


Jackson's Janked Up Journey

by jadencross



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, NaNoWriMo 2020, Stalking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29387235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadencross/pseuds/jadencross
Summary: As with most things, it all started with an intern. Specifically, an intern satyr named Berry working with the curse department, digging through old curses to try to find the thing that would make her stand out among the crowd.Near the back, buried under a bunch of junk and dust, as a file that did not match the age of everything around it. She moved closer, inspecting the bent manila paper.With a hum, she opened it, only to be greeted with a single piece of paper that simply read “A Curse To Remove [REDACTED]. Read With Caution.” There was a piece of tape keeping her from seeing behind it.
Relationships: Annabeth & Frank & Hazel & Jason & Leo & Percy & Piper, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Paul Blofis/Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood, Percy Jackson & Tyson
Comments: 11
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [since the fall (nobody seems to know my name)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21445138) by [Chill_with_Penguins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chill_with_Penguins/pseuds/Chill_with_Penguins). 



> Hey guys! I'm currently going through my wips folder and posting what I have but never actually posted. I've actually written more than my internet usage would suggest lol
> 
> Anyways, this past november I participated in NaNoWriMo. I worked on this and a few other fics, but I didn't manage to complete the challenge. It was fun, however, to work on. 
> 
> I had been in a bit of a pjo streak bc I was moving and the last time I read the series was when I was going away to college, so it made sense to get into it again. I could not, however, find my copies, so I just enjoyed the fandom. Needless to say, things may not make sense. I also have not looked over stuff since I wrote it other than to fill in blanks. 
> 
> Mostly, I wanted to post it just so it was out there, and also bc I'm doing my best to bury the Hetalia I wrote back in hs >.<
> 
> Anyways, I probably will not be finishing this fic. I can't say for sure that its abandoned, but I am in an Animaniacs kick and can't say that I have any intentions at the moment to work on it
> 
> I'm posting all of this in one day, so I hope you all enjoy reading it lol
> 
> Enjoy!

As with most things, it all started with an intern. Specifically, an intern satyr named Berry working with the curse department, digging through old curses to try to find the thing that would make her stand out among the crowd. 

Near the back, buried under a bunch of junk and dust, as a file that did not match the age of everything around it. She moved closer, inspecting the bent manila paper.

With a hum, she opened it, only to be greeted with a single piece of paper that simply read “A Curse To Remove [REDACTED]. Read With Caution.” There was a piece of tape keeping her from seeing behind it.

Berry read this message, the bright red ink drilling into her eyes, but something felt off. She should report to her superiors about this, ask if she could open it. Gods, maybe she should just put it back and act like it never happened. 

But something about the message felt...off. 

She checked for the name of who filed it only to find it blank. The words were completely typed, and she didn’t think that any curses used red ink unless they had to.

If Berry was smarter, she would have left the file alone.

But Berry had never put her faith in smarts. She followed her gut.

Berry removed the tape.

* * *

Night had fallen over Camp Halfblood, and the campers were spread about the campfire, talking and partying. A large bonfire roared in the center, allowing Grover plenty of light to see the smiles on the younger camper’s faces. Beside him, Annabeth spoke half-heartedly with Piper and Frank. Nearby, Leo and Hazel were ribbing Jason about the stupid trick he had tried in the arena that morning, leading to a cut hand and wounded ego.

“New Rome has been doing great so far,” Frank was saying. “We’ve managed to get older halfbloods to volunteer to return, and we’ve made great strides in taking the pressure off the young.”

“That’s amazing, Frank!” Piper smiled. “I’m surprised that it wasn’t just common practice.”

“I’m not,” Annabeth said. “God, if I could have gotten out after the Titan War I would have.” She paused, that common shadow passing over her face. “I would have done the same if I had somewhere besides here to go.”

There was a pause, and Grover found himself blinking lights out of his eyes again.

“I’ve been telling you we need to stop talking about the wars,” Grover said, as his vision began to return to normal. “Everyone gets weird about it.”

“I still think that the gods did something to remove everybody’s memory a little bit so it wasn’t as traumatic,” Frank said.

Piper huffed. “As if.”

“It’s a nice theory, but I’ve asked my mom and she said as far as she knew nothing had changed,” Annabeth said. She frowned. “I do think something happened with our memory, though.”

“Please tell me you aren’t talking about this again,” a voice said. Grover turned to see Will and Nico approaching the table. “It’s been years, Annabeth. If you were gonna fix it you would have by now.”

“You don’t know that,” Annabeth huffed.

Nico rolled his eyes. “How about you tell us about the fact that you’re about to graduate instead.”

“Oh, right, that was why we came over!” Will’s face lit up. “I can’t believe you’re already almost done with school!”

“I mean, I’m only getting my bachelor’s,” Annabeth said, hiding her blush with a sip.

“Still, graduating in 4 years is hard enough, much less three.”

“I guess.” Annabeth shrugged, looking back out over the fire.

Silence passed over the group, something that years ago Grover wouldn’t have hated, but now things had changed.

The pain in his chest was hard to ignore, sometimes. 

It was jagged, and tore at his insides. A pervasive feeling of loss, and hatred, and exhaustion, and pain constantly filtered into his mind, and nothing he could do would stop it. No matter who he talked to, they all said the same thing.

_ It’s an empathy bond. _

And yet those same people would agree, that it was an empathy bond to  _ no one _ . Grover had never had an empathy bond with anyone before. And when he tried to use his dreams to inspect who it could be with, all he got were flashes of himself and Annabeth and camp and a strange open house and a young girl with brown hair and eyes running around. Grover talked to whoever he could, but he still had no clue who the girl was. And trying to follow the bond led to a dead end. It was like a wall was erected, and Grover could neither find the person sending him the pain, nor could he cut them off.

It's like he was tied to a ghost.

Except not actually, because he had tried that angle, and Hades could offer no solution either. 

“Grover?”

He snapped up, noticing that the others had already left, Annabeth alone looking at him worriedly.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, shaking himself. “It’s just the pain again.”

Annabeth’s eyebrows furrowed. “Is it one of the episodes?”

Grover shook his head. “It's just a general ache.” He smiled. “You know you would know if it was an episode. Those always suck and I turn into such a kid. The terror and pain, it’s just…” Grover shook his head again. “I wish I knew who it was. They seem to be having an awful time.”

Annabeth’s face softened. “I know. We’ll get it someday.”

Grover stood. “I assume we’re all about to do something?”

She grimaced. “Yeah…” She looked at the fire where the others had begun to gather. “It’s speech time.”

“Ugh, really? I thought we stopped that already.”

“Apparently not,” Annabeth replied. “Chiron says that he wants the Six to show how much we’ve accomplished in rebuilding since the Giant War and to ‘increase moral.’”

“It’s already been 4 years, isn’t everything rebuilt already?” 

“Apparently not…” Annabeth sighed, picking up her glass. “Wish me luck.”

“As if you’d need it,  _ Wise Girl _ .”

Grover grimaced, the nickname tasting like acid to his tongue. Annabeth reacted much the same, a look of disgust taking over her relaxed face.

“I have no clue why I said that,” Grover said immediately.

“Me either, but please never do that again.” Annabeth took a swig, and headed up by the bonfire where Chiron was already getting everybody’s attention. Eventually, they calmed, and Jason stepped forward to speak. It was still weird, since Grover was certain that the number was supposed to be Seven and that Nico should have been counted. 

“Hello,” Jason said in that weird Praetor voice that Grover found incredibly awkward. “Chiron asked us, once again, to give you some details on how rebuilding is going.”

Grover watched the eyes of the campers begin to glaze over. Leo started fidgeting, Hazel elbowing him if he started moving too much. 

Jason said pretty much the same thing as every year. The Hephaestus cabin had created a new invention. The Aphrodite Cabin would be able to move back into their intended cabin after improvements had been made. The Hecate Cabin would be the next group staying in Poseidon’s empty cabin while theirs was upgraded. More harpies had shown up. New campers had been found. The exchange program with New Rome was starting to really hit its stride. 

Everyone was incredibly bored, the tension of a bunch of ADHD kids starting to ratchet up into restlessness when Jason suddenly faltered.

Grover was immediately slammed by memories so strong he felt his chest constrict.

He saw a young boy with black hair and sea-green eyes running behind him through the woods, and fighting Medusa, and rescuing him from the cyclops, and playing with Tyson, and flying on Blackjack, and fighting with gods and titans and halfbloods and through every memory the same thing kept pulsing over and over and over so hard his brain hurt.

_ Help me. _

There was a shattering of glass, and Grover was able to break out of his reprieve enough to see Annabeth, her face covered in tears as she stood frozen, her eyes wide.

“Percy,” she said. “We forgot Percy.”

And camp erupted.


	2. Chapter 2

The camp was in chaos. 

Chiron was frozen. Annabeth had fallen to her knees, glass digging into her jeans. Frank was bent over, looking as if he was going to vomit. Hazel and Piper trying to help Annabeth up, but Piper’s finger’s were white on the older girl’s shoulder and Hazel’s eyes were glassy. Jason was using Leo as a support as Leo tried to help Frank with his own shaking hands. Nico somehow had turned even paler, where he sat next to Will, curing into a ball against the bench. 

Campers who had known Percy were yelling, or frozen, or scared. Clarisse, surprisingly, seemed completely overtaken with shock. Campers who had only arrived within the past four years were confused. Mr. D looked pale, his normal facade broken for a moment, before he began to try to calm people down.

Grover, however, could only focus on one thing.

How? How could he have forgotten  _ Percy? _ Percy, his best friend, his brother, the Champion of Olympus, the greatest person he had ever known, the person he had an empathy link with.

Wait.

The person he had an  _ empathy link with. _

Grover choked, feeling the fear and pain and anger ring out in his chest even more than before. He reached, trying to find the link, trying to connect. He stretched as much as he could, trying to find the frayed ends of the bond he had tried to cut off for years.

Finally, he managed, putting his hand out for his best friend. 

It burned. The fear was intense, the emotions ragged and hurting. Grover felt like he couldn’t move, his voice couldn’t speak. There was a terror, a feeling of helplessness, and his mind swam. Percy’s thoughts were disorganized, no thoughts truly standing out, but Grover caught flashes.

He saw a young girl who looked just like Sally Jackson sitting on a counter in a house none of the Jackson’s could afford, her eyes sparkling as she licked cake batter from a spatula. He saw a closed door with no handle. He saw a giant window showing a sea of trees, and felt a longing. He saw a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes standing over him, smiling, and it filled him with terror.

Grover reached, trying so hard to send a message through, but it was like trying to touch hot coals. The thoughts were so strong and scattered they burned and sliced through his hands. 

_ Percy! _ Grover cried, before he felt Percy’s mind scream and he was flung back into reality.

A sob escaped his lips, and before he knew it he was crying. Soft hands lifted him gently, and he could feel himself being carried. He couldn’t see, his tears blinding him, and his grief clouding his thoughts. 

Deep in his chest, he felt pain and fear and terror rise up, the beginning of what they had been calling  _ episodes _ before he could remember that the feeling he hated so much was  _ his best friend being tortured. _

Grover wasn’t sure how long it took, but eventually the pain subsided and he calmed down. Dried tears caked his cheeks, and a warm, shaky hand held his. Blinking his eyes awake, he found himself in the infirmary, Annabeth holding his hand as they both huddled in the same bed. The rest of the Seven was there, sitting in chairs or on beds, Nico and Will and Clarisse huddled near the back. 

“Grover?” Chiron’s voice said, and the centaur slowly swam into focus.

“Sorry.” Grover’s voice was harsh, and he figured he must have been screaming at some point. 

Chiron shook his head. “It’s okay.” His eyes darted to Annabeth.

“Please,” she said, her voice watery, “please tell me that you somehow got a second empathy bond and that it’s not Percy who makes you hurt like that.”

Grover swallowed, turning to hug her and bury his face into her stomach.

“No,” he said, feeling something breaking under his hands as he told her. “It’s him.”

Annabeth’s tremors increased, and Grover felt the need to hold her tighter, if only so she didn’t shake the shattered pieces of herself off.

“I will Iris message Sally,” Chiron said, his eyes sad. “Perhaps she has some clue as to what is going on.”

“Th…” Hazel swallowed, before trying again. “The last time we saw him, he went to go visit his mom.”

“Exactly why I’m calling her,” Chiron said, placing his hand on her shoulder before leaving the room.

There was silence, before Piper broke it.

“What happened?”

“I think…” Frank started, looking around to see if anyone else would speak up before continuing. “I think it was some sort of curse? That...that has to be the only explanation.”

“Not even the gods remembered him,” Nico said, face slack. “Poseidon let people stay in the cabin because he had no kids, remember?”

Annabeth tensed.

“When they decided to move the Hermes kids in 3 years ago,” she started, voice soft and shaky, “I found...I had this weird urge to go inside, right? And I went and I found clothes and a toothbrush and I just…” she swallowed. “I just assumed that some camper had been staying in there without permission.” She sobbed. “But that’s so stupid. Poseidon would never have allowed that.” 

Grover gripped her tighter, feeling tears starting to prick his eyes again. 

There was the soft sound of hooves, and Chiron reentered the room, a glowing image of Sally Jackson’s tearstained face in his hands.

“It appears that Percy is not at home,” Chiron said, his voice cold. “Though I fear we already knew that.”

“I don’t,” Sally said, her voice near unintelligible through tears. “Why aren’t they with you? Why isn’t he at camp? He said he was going to camp!” 

“I know, Sally, but we need to understand what happened.” Chiron moved to be more centered, allowing Sally to see at least Annabeth and Grover.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Paul’s voice came from off message.

“Four years ago,” Annabeth said, her voice loud, but faint. “He went to visit you guys for a weekend and to celebrate Estelle’s birthday.”

“He was here,” Paul said, voice calm but shaky. “He was fine.”

“Wait,” Jason said, sitting up. “ _ They _ ?”

“What?” Leo asked.

“You said  _ they _ .” Jason repeated. “‘Why aren’t  _ they _ with you.’”

Sally froze, her face pale.

“Neither of them are here,” she said, voice soft. “Estelle was...we didn’t…”

“Wait,  _ Estelle _ is missing, too?” Nico sat up, his eyes wide.

“Yes,” Sally said, visibly trying to pull herself together. “We...It’s been three years since we last saw her.”

“And the last time we saw Percy was the day before that,” Paul added. Sally’s lip tremored.

“I believe we are getting ahead of ourselves,” Chiron interjected. “Please, tell us what happened when he went to visit.”

“He came over and we had dinner,” Sally said. She took a deep breath, scrubbed her eyes, and continued, voice steadier. “We all went to bed, and in the morning I woke up and I just...didn’t remember I had children.”

“Huh?” Leo said loudly.

“We had slept in because it was Saturday. None of our normal alarms were set, so we walked in to find Percy feeding Estelle in the kitchen.” Paul’s hand rested on Sally’s arm. She took a deep breath. “He said good morning to me. And I told him I didn’t know who he was.”

Her composure cracked, then, and Grover could see her beginning to spiral. 

“He,” she started, tears beginning to fall again, “he looked to confused, and hurt! He said that he was my son and that Estelle was my daughter but I  _ didn’t believe him _ and Paul came in and said the same and he tried to show me his files and stuff to prove he was real but he couldn’t find any of the paperwork  _ I know _ we have it was like it never existed so we were tempted to call the police--” Grover and Annabeth stiffened “--but he was very convincing and I knew,  _ I knew _ , that he meant us no harm so we compared notes and nothing lined up so he said he was going to go to camp but he couldn’t get in so--”

“Sally,” Chiron interjected. 

Sally took a deep, stuttering breath. Paul had moved to hold her, his own wet cheeks now visible.

“That was a lot of information very quickly,” Chiron said. 

“That wasn’t even all of it,” Sally said. “He...He stayed with us for a year.”

“Okay hang on.” Grover looked over, seeing Piper seemingly come out of her trance. “You’re saying that you just, all of a sudden, woke up and didn’t remember him or Estelle?”

“Yeah,” Sally said. “Is that not what happened to you?”

Grover thought back. He remembered Percy leaving. He remembered wanting him to come back for a day, and then he remembered waking up with a weird feeling of loss in his chest he didn’t understand.

“It is,” Annabeth said quietly. She slid, sitting more upright. Sally’s face fell when she saw how truly awful Annabeth looked. 

“But he didn’t disappear?” Leo asked. 

Sally shook her head. “No. Nothing changed with him and Estelle, just...the world, I guess.”

“Percy told us about going to the school I worked at, and I checked for his records but nothing came up.” Paul said. “We looked to see if there were birth certificates but there were none. They weren’t in any pictures, either. The only proof we had that Percy and Estelle even existed was the fact that they were literally staying with us.”

“How odd,” Chiron said, mostly so himself.

“After about a week, he tried to go back to camp,” Sally continued. “He didn’t even try to bring Estelle since she’s mortal, but he came back that night saying that he couldn’t even get close to camp. Apparently the wards against mortals worked on him, too.”

“What?” Jason asked. “Did he become mortal?”

“I don’t think so,” Paul said. “He would go to the ocean all the time and told us he was still able to control the water.”

“Monsters stopped attacking him, though,” Sally piped up. “We went to the movies once, and nothing happened. I’m sure you know that’s not normal for us.”

“So he lived with you for a year?” Hazel asked. “Why did he leave?”

Sally and Paul exchanged a look.

“I don’t…” Sally bent her brow, “I don’t know.”

“He went out to do...something,” Paul said. “He told us what it was but we forgot it non-magically so it didn’t come back. He did about once a week, and it happened at night, but I know it had to do with monsters and stuff.”

“And he never came back,” Sally said. “We would normally go to bed before him, and he would be there in the morning, but he wasn’t this time.”

“And around noon the day he disappeared, some weird men showed up and asked for Estelle,” Paul said, face darkening.

“Weird men?” Leo asked.

“Like, bodyguards,” Sally said. “We said no, and if they knew where Percy was, but they just left.” Sally swallowed and Paul’s grip on her tightened. “The next morning Estelle was gone, too.”

“What the fuck,” Clarisse summed up.

“And you have no idea what happened?” Chiron asked.

“It was a long shot, but we filed a police report,” Paul said. “We got a message back that they didn’t exist, so nothing was followed up. We couldn’t figure out anything on our own, either.”

Annabeth frowned. “Is their paperwork back?”

Paul and Sally shared a glance, then Paul quickly stood and left. Rummaging could be heard, then a loud shout following by thundering footsteps. Paul nearly slid into the couch, holding a few pieces of paper in his hands, his eyes glittering.

“They’re back!” he cried.

“File the police report,” Annabeth said, her voice starting to settle. “That way we cover our bases.”

Paul nodded, pulling out his phone and dialing a number before setting the phone aside.

Annabeth turned to Grover. “Were you able to…” She glanced at Sally and Paul. “Did you see anything through the bond?”

Grover paused, thinking.

“I think I saw Estelle eating cake batter, so that’s probably a good sign,” Grover said. 

Sally’s eyes lit up, and her hands came to her mouth.

“Also they were in a very,  _ very _ nice house I think? I only got a few flashes.” He looked to Annabeth. “I can try to ask when he’s more, uh...available?”

Annabeth furrowed her brow. 

“What?” Sally asked. “Is he okay.”

Grover looked to Chiron, who sighed.

“Grover’s empathy bond did not fade during the time we all forgot,” Chiron said. “From what we can tell, every once in a while Percy has something akin to a panic attack. Am I correct in this explanation, Grover?”

Grover swallowed. “Kinda? It’s more like...um...he’s uh...well…” He looked to Annabeth, who nodded. “It’s more like at least once a week he gets into a fight that he loses pretty terribly, and he nearly constantly thinks about how lonely he is, and his thoughts have been getting even more scattered than normal and also right now he’s asleep and having a very bad dream.”

All of the blood drained from Sally’s face.

“He’s…”

“Estelle is apparently fine, though?” Grover said, seeing how healthy and happy she looked, and feeling it in his bones that Percy had not failed his sister. “If that helps at all?”

Sally swallowed, then nodded. “It helps, yes, but it also makes me nervous as to  _ why _ my incredibly powerful demigod son is hurting while his younger mortal sister is unharmed.”

Annabeth shifted at that. Grover figured they all knew why. 

Percy’s fatal flaw _ had _ always been loyalty.

“It’s getting late,” Clarisse said, standing. Her face was blank, and her posture was stiff. “We need to sleep.”

Annabeth shook her head. “No, we need to--”

“You can’t find Prissy if you can’t even stand, Chase,” Clarisse snarled. “Grover said himself that he’s sleeping. We’ll try again with fresh brains in the morning. We can’t do anything now but wear ourselves out thinking.” Clarisse huffed. “And I hate thinking.”

“Clarisse is right,” Chiron said. “We should all head to bed.” He looked at the Iris message. “I will be coming over tomorrow to assist in any way I can.”

Sally and Paul nodded, and then Chiron swiped the message away. 

There was a moment of silence, where Grover felt the anxiety and grief sinking into his bones.

Annabeth squeezed him.

“We’re gonna get our boy back, Grover. We’ll get him back.”


	3. Chapter 3

Grover opened his eyes to find himself in the softest and most comfortable bed he’d ever been in. He nearly closed his eyes again as the silk sheets and down pillows settled around him, the spell only broken by that faint feeling of terror.

Grover looked up, seeing a popcorn ceiling and deep red walls with no decorations. There was a dresser across the room, and a small mirror, but otherwise the room was empty besides the bed. There was a door in front of him that was painted red to match the walls, and over to the right was another door, this one white.

And this one with no handle.

“Percy?” Grover asked. “Percy, are you there?”

There was a stirring in the bed, and Grover turned to his left to find a bump in the blankets that he was sure hadn’t been there before.

Gently, Grover lifted the blankets, seeing only a tuft of black hair and two long fingers gripping the sheets.

“Percy?” Grover said gently. 

“Go away,” the voice said.  _ Percy’s _ voice said.

“Percy, it’s me, Grover.”

“You’re just Nightmare Grover,” came Percy’s muffled reply. “I don’t like Nightmare Grover.”

“It’s not Nightmare Grover, promise.” Grover leaned forward, taking Percy’s hand in his own. “It’s the empathy link. We’re sharing a dream.”

“You’ve been trying to break our bond for years,” came Percy’s biting reply. “Why would you be here now.”

“Because I remembered.” Grover lifted his other hand, slowly pulling back the sheets. “I don’t know what happened, but I forgot about you, everyone did, but we remembered.”

The blanket pulled back enough for Grover to see Percy’s face, and it was like getting smashed with a ton of bricks. 

Percy’s hair was longer, about shoulder length. His skin had lost its perpetual tan he gained from his time on the beach. His face was more defined, his cheekbones and chin more obvious. If he lost much more weight, he would slip into gaunt. His sea green eyes were dull in the light, and bags hung under his eyes darker and heavier than Grover had ever seen them. 

“Why would you just suddenly remember?”

“I don’t know. Why did we forget?”

Percy’s frown deepened. He sat up, pulling himself out of the blankets, and Grover could see how his shirt was looser on him that usual. His arms were smooth, as if he had lost more muscle than fat. He eyed Grover up and down.

“You seem like you’ve aged,” Percy admitted after a while. “Normally Nightmare Grover is just like I last saw him.”

“Do you believe me now?” Grover asked, fighting off the urge to tackle his best friend.

Percy hesitated. Grover felt his face fall.

“Why did you forget me?” Percy asked, his voice a whisper.

“I…” Grover bit back tears. “I don’t know. We think it was a curse or something.”

Percy stared a moment longer, his eyes beginning to shine in the pale light. 

“You’re real, aren’t you.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” Grover answered anyway.

Percy’s eyes glazed over, tears finally spilling over onto his cheeks.

“You really remember me?” he said in a watery voice.

“Yes,” Grover said back, voice just as tearstained.

Percy lifted a hand, reaching out for Grover. 

“Can I--”

Grover didn’t even let him finish. He pushed forward, grabbing Percy in his arms and sending thoughts of love to Percy in any way he could. Percy didn’t hug him back right away, his body tensing, before slowly, much more slowly than Grover was used to or comfortable with, Percy raised his arms, gently relaxing into Grover’s iron grip.

“I missed you,” Percy whispered into Grover’s ear. “I missed you so much.”

Grover sobbed. “I’m so sorry, Percy. I’m so, so sorry.”

Percy was silent for a while, the both of them just holding each other and crying. Eventually, Grover pulled back, allowing him to see that Percy’s eyes were still glazed over.

“Are you okay?” Grover asked. 

Percy snapped a bit out of his reprieve, his eyes starting to see Grover for the first time.

“No,” he said. 

Grover frowned, looking around. “Where are you? Is this place safe?”

Percy huffed, a sound Grover recognized later as a mockery of a laugh. “This place is the furthest thing from safe.”

Grover looked back at Percy, taking in the sunken eyes, and spotting bruises on his wrists.

“You’re being held here, aren’t you.”

“Yeah.” Percy sagged back against the headboard. 

“And whoever it is is leveraging Estelle against you,” Grover guessed.

“Bingo.” Percy gentured tiredly with his hand.

Grover bit his lip. “Where are you, Percy?”

Percy looked over, his eyes bloodshot and tired. He studied Grover for a second, before looking away.

“Why does it matter?”

Grover felt his hackles begin to rise. 

“Because you’re our friend, Percy, and we want to help you!” 

“You can’t help me,” Percy said, turning that tired, tired gaze back to Grover. “I can’t...I’m not the same person you knew four years ago, Grover.”

“Why does that matter!” Grover cried. “We care about you, and we want to help you! This place is  _ hurting _ you, Percy! The people  _ holding _ you are hurting you, and we want to help!”

Percy was still for a moment, tilting his head to allow his hair to cover his face. Grover grabbed his arm, pushing ahead.

“We’ve defeated Kronos, and killed Gaia! You and Annabeth made it through Tartarus, and you’ve done so many things! Any god or monster or immortal who has you right now...we can beat them!”

Percy stiffened.

“She’s a mortal,” he said, quietly. 

Grover blinked. 

“What?”

Percy bit his lip, looking towards the ceiling. His face was so far away Grover nearly felt the desire to shake him awake. 

“She’s a demigod, Grover,” he said. “And I’ve still never been able to get out.”

Grover opened and closed his mouth a few times, before continuing.

“That’s okay,” he said. “Percy, we can still help.”

Percy didn’t move. 

“Percy.” Grover shook him a little. Could people fall asleep in dreams? “Percy? Percy, can you hear me?”

Faintly, Grover could hear a sound from outside the door. Listening a little harder, he heard footsteps. He turned back to Percy.

“Percy, please tell me where you are,” he begged.

The light had nearly faded from his eyes, but Percy managed a whisper.

“I don’t know,” he said, and the door with no handle swung open.

* * *

Grover awoke with a start, bolting upright in the infirmary bed. Annabeth, with a surprised shout, managed to not topple to the floor. 

“Grover?” an Apollo camper called, walking into the room. Grover took several breaths before calming down enough to recognize the camper. 

“I’m okay,” Grover huffed. “I’m okay.”

“Did you see him?” Annabeth asked, gripping his hand. 

Grover swallowed. 

“We need to get Chiron.”


	4. Chapter 4

Apparently, Grover and Annabeth had slept in a little, something that was incredibly rare for them. The others had already ate and begun working with Chiron on a plan by the time they entered the room.

“I had hoped that maybe you all would have slept longer,” Chiron sighed. His gaze lingered on the two of them, worry creasing his eyes. 

“I had a dream,” Grover said. Everyone straightened.

“I assume your empathy link came in handy once again,” Chiron replied.

“Yeah,” Grover said. He moved closer to the middle of the room, taking a seat on the couch. 

“He was, uh,” Grover glanced at Annabeth, “not good…” Briefly, Grover explained the dream, trying his best to gloss over  _ just _ how awful Percy had looked. 

There was a long silence for a while. 

“Can’t he stay out of trouble for fucking  _ once _ !” Annabeth grit out through her teeth. “Can’t people just leave him alone!  _ Gods _ !” She stood, storming out of the room.

“Annabeth,” Piper called after her.

“I’ll be back later,” she said, venom dripping from her words. 

“Let her go,” Grover sighed. “This is sort of what happened last time.” He winced. “Well, he was in better shape last time.”

There was another pause. Chiron cleared his throat. 

“I believe I promised Sally that I would be out to visit her today.” He looked at Grover. “I ask that you accompany me so we can put her mind at, uh…” his face twisted slightly. “So we can keep her in the loop.”

“Of course,” Grover replied, already starting to brace himself for how  _ awful _ this was going to be.

“I believe that Annabeth should come with us, as well,” Chiron said. He paused, glancing at the door. “Once she has had time to calm down.”

“Do you need any of the rest of us to come,” Jason asked, straightening. 

“I do not want to overwhelm her,” Chiron said. “This is only the first visit. After Grover’s dream, my hope that we could resolve this quickly is fading. If we need to reconvene, I will allow her and Paul entrance to camp.” He sighed. “We must remember that Estelle is not a halfblood, and she is also missing.”

“Have we considered why, though?” Hazel asked. “I mean, if Percy was affected by a curse, wouldn’t it be because he was a halfblood? Why would Estelle be involved?”

“The only reason I could think would be if it was to spite Mrs. Jackson.” Leo’s brown pitched in thought. “But I don’t know how involved in the demigod life she is.”

“It’s pretty much just through Percy and Annabeth,” Grover answered. “Back when Percy first found out he was a demigod she got captured by Kronos and held in the Underworld for a bit, but other than that, not at all.”

There was a small pause. 

“Remind me to ask you guys later to actually  _ explain _ that later,” Jason grumbled.

“Does she have any connections with other demigods that might have access to something?” Leo asked.

“Not as far as I know,” Grover said. “Listen, we probably won’t get any closer to an answer thinking to ourselves. We need to ask Sally and see what she thinks.”

“Then I believe that we should prepare for departure,” Chiron said. He looked to Grover. “Would you mind…”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I’ll go get Annabeth.”

* * *

Contrary to what some might have thought, Annabeth did  _ not _ find some poor young camper and completely eviscerate them. She, in fact, did the opposite.

“You’re gonna have to hit harder than that if you want to take me down, Chase,” Clarisse called, circling Annabeth in the area. 

Annabeth let out a yell, darting forward to slash at Clarisse, her normal hesitancy and calm thinking eluding her. She swung down, but overbalanced, falling onto the dirt with a thud without Clarisse needing to do anything.

Annabeth lay on her back in the dirt, panting. Clarisse stood over her, watching. They didn’t move for a bit, just breathing heavily and watching each other. 

“Hey.” Grover’s voice broke the silent staring contest, both of them looking towards where he stood near the entrance to the area. “Chiron wants to go soon.”

Annabeth groaned as Clarisse held out her hand. She took it, letting the larger girl pull her to her feet. She patted Annabeth’s shoulder, then turned towards the exit as Grover walked closer.

“I was nervous you were going to kill someone,” Grover joked softly.

“I’m still planning on it,” Annabeth said, grinding her teeth. “We just have to figure out who, right?”

Grover nodded, a small smile on his lips. They began walking towards the Big House, and Annabeth sighed.

“This is gonna  _ suck _ .”


	5. Chapter 5

“Come in,” Paul greeted them at the door. His face was tired, yet determined. 

Grover followed Chiron and Annabeth inside. Looking around, he was struck with an odd feeling of loss.

The decor had changed slightly. The couch had been replaced, and the color blue was not as prominent as it had been before. There were pictures on the wall of Sally and Paul on vacations or dates, and wedding photos were hung prominently. There were other photos taped up, ones that weren’t as nice as those framed, but that prominently featured Percy and Estelle.

Sally was sitting on the couch, thumbing through papers. She stood when they entered, and Grover fought a wince. Her eyes were dull, bags under her eyes that weren’t there the night before. 

“Chiron,” she said, her voice shaky. She cleared it, and continued, much more strongly, “Annabeth. Grover. Thank you so much for coming so quickly.”

Annabeth pushed past Chiron, practically running into Sally’s arms. The women hugged each other tightly, Sally’s knuckles white where she gripped Annabeth’s shirt.

“I never thought we’d be doing this again,” Annabeth sighed into Sally’s ear. Sally just nodded as Paul placed a hand on her shoulder.

“We resubmitted a police report this morning,” he said. “They asked us why we waited three years, and we told them we hadn’t, they had dropped it.” He sighed, using his other hand to rub his temple. “I think this is going to be a battle in its own right.”

“It seems so,” Chiron agreed, rolling forward to position himself across from the couch. 

Annabeth pulled back, Sally patting her back as they both sat down on the couch, still curled together.

“Any more clues?” Sally asked hopefully.

Chiron looked to Grover, who swallowed.

“I had a shared dream last night,” Grover started. “He’s um…” He looked into Sally’s hopeful eyes, swallowing again. “He’s not doing too great.”

Sally and Paul’s faces fell.

“Grover did discover some more details,” Chiron stepped in. Grover glanced to him gratefully. “Though the dream was a bit unclear, as all empathy links are, Percy managed to tell him that, as we feared, he is being held somewhere.” Sally’s grip tightened on Annabeth. 

“However,” Chiron continued, “he said that he is being held by a demigod, not by an immortal.”

“Well I guess it could be worse,” Sally deadpanned.

“Did he tell you where he was?” Paul asked.

“He said he didn’t know,” Grover said. “But in the flashes I got yesterday I saw a bunch of trees somewhere, though the room we were in had no windows.” He sighed. 

Chiron furrowed his brow. “Then we should--”

A knock on the door interrupted him.

Everyone looked at each other, then Paul moved towards the door.

“We aren’t expecting anyone...” Sally said.

“Maybe it’s the police?” Grover said.

Paul opened the door, and there was a squeak of surprise.

Then  _ Poseidon _ of all people walked into the living room.

Grover jumped to his feet, his hair standing on end. Annabeth and Sally came to stand as well. The room was instantly filled with the scent of the sea, and Posideon’s eyes were stormy.

He looked around the room, taking in everyone’s state.

“I assume no one has managed to find him yet,” he said, his voice hard as steel.

“Lord Poseidon,” Chiron said, startled. 

Poseidon waved his hand dismissively. “There’s no need for that.” He grit his teeth, looking over towards Sally.

Sally’s eyes were wide. She swallowed, before speaking. “You couldn’t find him?”

Poseidon shook his head. “If I do not intentionally keep track of someone, I cannot find them unless they are near water.” His eyes darkened. “Percy, it seems, is not near water.”

Grover stiffened. “I don’t think he’s been near water for a while,” he said hesitantly. 

Poseidon’s gaze snapped to Grover, and  _ oh _ that was a bad feeling.

“Through the empathy link?” he said.

“Yes.” Grover swallowed. “I saw him, but I don’t know where he is. He doesn’t either.”

Poseidon paused, his posture shifting. “I have already tasked everyone available to search for him.” 

“Do you know what happened to make everyone forget?” Sally asked.

Poseidon’s eyes glinted. “I was contacted by the head of the curse department. Apparently, a rouge  _ arai _ caused all of this.” His face looked absolutely thunderous. “Apparently the only reason anyone remembered at all was because we were lucky enough to have an intern digging through a storage closet and find it.”

Grover made a mental note to figure out who it was and ensure that they were taken care of for life. 

Sally grit her teeth. “That’s it? A curse?” Her eyes flashed. “How did it take Estelle, too?”

Poseidon’s face relaxed slightly. “Apparently the curse was addressed to the ‘child of Sally Jackson,’” he said. “By the time the curse was activated, you had had another child.”

Sally’s demeanor changed, her face one of silent fury. “You mean to say that my children were stolen from me by a  _ loophole _ ?” she ground out with a hiss. 

Paul placed his hand on her shoulder again, and she softened slightly. Poseidon sighed. 

“Tell me what you know,” he said. “They’ve been gone for four years already. I do not wish to wait another moment.”

* * *

“I don’t think this is gonna work, Nico,” Hazel said from where she sat on a bench nearby.

“Shut up,” Nico panted, laying on his back on the ground. The last ghost Nico had called had been on help either, and he was beginning to feel exhausted.

“You’re gonna get sick and Will’s gonna yell at you again,” Hazel unhelpful reminded him. 

“Shut up,” Nico ground out.

“No way,” Hazel said, crossing her arms. “You told me that this didn’t work last time he disappeared, either.”

“But it’s been five years since then, and I’ve gotten so much better,” Nico huffed. “I had to try.”

“From what Grover and Mrs. Jackson said, it sounds like Percy hasn’t been seen in years,” Hazel said. “The problem probably isn’t your powers, just that no one has seen him.”

Nico sighed, pushing himself upright so he could glare at Hazel. She just shrugged.

“You don’t seem very worried,” he said.

Her face darkened. “You know I am,” she said. “Fank, Jason, Piper, Leo, and I only knew Percy for a year before he disappeared again. We feel like we missed out on having a friend entirely.”

Nico blushed. “Sorry,” he said. 

“It’s okay,” she replied. “We’re all worried. We all just show it different ways.”

“Did you hear from New Rome?” Nico pulled himself to his feet and dusted himself off.

“Yeah,” she said. “They didn’t find anything when they looked around. And they didn’t find any halfbloods who were missing or anything.”

Nico frowned. “The criteria was a little vague, anyway.” 

Hazel hopped off the rock, walking beside Nico as they walked back towards camp.

“I think we should start considering who we should be looking for,” Hazel said.

“What do you mean?”

Hazel hesitated. “Percy’s really powerful, right?” Nico nodded. “Well, if he’s been gone for three years then he should have been able to get out somehow. He’s fought so many gods and titans it should practically be easy to defeat a demigod.”

“What are you saying?” Nico asked.

Hazel stopped, letting Nico pull slightly ahead. 

“We should be looking for who has the power to put him in a spot where he doesn’t try to get away,” she said. “We already figured that Estelle’s being used as leverage, so we need to think about who has to means to keep not only an adult, but a 6 year old girl a secret.”

Nico arched an eyebrow.

Hazel sighed. “We’re looking for someone rich, Nico.”

“What?” Nico crossed his arms. “Why?” 

“If the person holding him is a demigod,” Hazel rolled her eyes, “and as far as we know none of the gods or nymphs know where he is, then we can assume that he’s being held in the mortal realm, right?”

“I guess?” Nico said.

“So, if he’s in the moral realm, he’s probably being held by someone with a lot of power and influence,” Hazel continued, exasperated. “That means generally someone with a lot of money, or related to someone with a lot of money.”

Nico thought about it for a moment. “He’s strong enough he should be able to just grab Estelle and run, especially if, from what Grover said, they’re cooking in a kitchen together.”

“And a place with a lot of security is probably the best place to keep someone,” Hazel supplied. “Percy’s really good at killing monsters, but not so much at technology. That’s more Leo’s thing.”

“Okay, so a daughter of some god who is rich,” Nico said. He paused, before offering a small smile. “Look at you being smart and aware of technology.”

“Hey!” Hazel laughed as they broke through the trees. “I’m getting better with tech! Piper showed me coolmathgames.com a few months ago and I’m really good at gluey 2.”

“Aw fuck yeah, coolmathgames!” Nico looked to see Leo walking up to them. “I personally love Crash Test Dummies.”

“That one’s fun, too.” Hazel smiled. 

“It’s great!” Leo grinned, before sobering up a little and turning to Nico. “By the way there’s this weird cyclops that came out of the ocean and says he’s Percy’s brother. Clarisse said to get you guys.”

Nico huffed. “That would be Tyson.”

“So he  _ is _ Percy’s brother?” Hazel asked. 

“Yeah,” Nico said. “He’s pretty cool, but he and Percy are--” he hesitated. “-- _ were _ incredibly close, and Tyson is pretty young for a cyclops.” He looked out towards the sea, already seeing a decent gathering of people. “It’s not gonna go well.”

Leo let out a bitter laugh. “What has?” 

* * *

Tyson took the news about as well as Nico expected him to.

“Not even his mom knows?” Tyson asked, his big eye tearing up. “Why does no one know?” He burst into sobs. Jason awkwardly patted his shoulder. 

“Does your dad know anything?” Nico asked. Though surely if he did he would have told Tyson. Right?”

Tyson sniffed. “No,” his voice was watery, “Dad went to talk to Percy’s mom. And he sent Triton and everybody else to go looking for him.”

“Well, Chiron, Grover, and Annabeth are there now,” Frank said, nervously. “I’m sure they’re all figuring it out now.”

“Where could he have gone, though!” Tyson sobbed. “He wouldn’t just leave without telling me.”

Will handed him a tissue, and the ensuing sound was similar to that of an elephant with a cold. “From what we can tell he couldn’t reach camp, and probably wouldn’t have been able to use Iris messages at all.”

“But he would have told his mom where he was going!”

No one really had an answer to that.

Tyson started crying even harder. “It’s just like last time,” he cried. “Why can’t people just leave him alone.” Tyson fell to his knees before curling up in the fetal position. “Why is everyone so mean to Percy! I just want my brother back.” He pressed his face into his knees, and continued crying.

Everyone hesitated, before Nico came to sit next to Tyson. In the last four years, he had gotten much better at giving comfort, but he knew he still left much to be desired. 

Gently, he placed his hand on Tyson’s shoulder, patting slightly. “There there,” he said, before wincing. This was like they did in Disney movies or something. No way it would work! 

Patiently, he waited from Tyson’s sobs to quiet down before continuing. “We found him last time, Tyson. And we’ll find him again.”

Tyson nodded slightly. “I miss him.”

Nico felt a pang in his chest, and he saw those gathered stiffen.

“We all do,” he said honestly. “But we’ll get him back.” Tyson looked up slightly, so Nico felt the need to continue.

“Last time Percy was completely silent on his and Grover’s empathy link,” he said, thinking back. “And last time he was taken by a god in order to jumpstart a prophecy. There’s no prophecy this time, and he said that he was with a demigod. Plus, this time, we have  _ both _ camps to help us.” Nico didn’t mention that he had already known about Camp Jupiter last time. “We’ll find him in no time.”

Tyson sniffed. “You mean it?”

“Yeah,” Nico said, feeling awkward again. 

Tyson sat up, scrubbing the sand from his cheeks. 

“Let’s go to the Big House,” Piper said. “The others should be back before too long.”

Tyson nodded, getting to his feet. He paused, then pulled Nico into a hug.

“Thank you,” he whispered before pulling back.

Nico felt his face heat. “No problem,” he said. 

Tyson smiled, then turned to follow everyone to the Big House.


	6. Chapter 6

When Grover, Annabeth, and Chiron returned to camp, they found Tyson, Leo, and Nico, of all people, sitting on the couch, Nico showing Tyson his Mythomagic cards. When they entered, Tyson jumped up.

“Grover!” he cried, running over. “Annabeth!” Grover took a breath in anticipation and they both were picked up and crushed in Tyson’s strong hug.

“Hi Tyson,” Annabeth managed through her crushed ribs.

Tyson twirled around a little, before setting them back down again. 

“Did you figure anything out,” he asked, his eye sparkling.

“Not yet,” Grover said. He looked over to where Nico had somehow already put all of his cards up on the couch. 

“Speaking of,” Nico said, looking up. “Hazel brought up a good point.”

Annabeth arched an eyebrow. “And that is?”

“We should probably start thinking about who in the mortal world we should be looking for,” he said, passing his deck to Leo to inspect. 

“That’s similar to what we were talking about at Sally’s place,” Annabeth said. “Poseidon showed up and told us that he had checked with everyone and no one knew where Percy was.”

“Wait,  _ Poseidon _ can’t find him?” 

“Apparently Percy’s been too far from water for too long,” Chiron said.

“I also think it may have something to do with the fact that Percy isn't, uh,” Grover thought back to how  _ awful _ Percy had looked in their shared dream, “doing too well.”

“I was...thinking the same,” Chiron said. “Who, then, do we think we should be looking for?” 

“Hazel said we should look into people who have power in the mortal world,” Nico said. “She specifically suggested looking for a demigod who is related or is someone who is rich.”

Leo snorted. “That should be easy. Oh, wait. That’s literally almost everyone.”

“What do you mean?” Annabeth asked. 

Leo gestured. “You have to admit that most demigods are kids who have a pretty good amount of money in their family.” He started counting on his fingers. “Piper’s the daughter of a famous actor, so are Jason and Thalia.” He gestured at Annabeth. “ _ Your _ family has a pretty significant amount of money, as do most mortal parents.” He shrugged. “I’m not saying it's a bad thing, just that rich people have an easier time getting the attention of gods.”

“That’s true,” Grover agreed. 

“Then maybe we should be looking at which demigods would have the power to keep him there,” Annabeth said. 

“What do you mean?” Grover asked. 

“Percy’s pretty good at getting out of places,” Annabeth said, with a meaningful look. “So I think that if a mortal was going to keep him somewhere, they would have to be using their godly gifts, even beyond just keeping Estelle as a hostage.” She turned to Grover. “You said he had memories of him being in a room alone with Estelle. He could easily run if that’s true.”

“Wait, why don’t you just ask him?” Leo turned to Grover. “Wouldn’t he know her name?”

“I can try,” Grover said, “but the empathy link isn’t super easy to control. I can’t just have dreams when I want, and there’s no guarantee that the dream will even be stable enough for him to give a name.”

“That sounds annoying,” Leo huffed.

“So what godly parents should we be looking at?” Grover asked.

There was a long pause.

“I don’t know off the top of my head,” Annabeth said, looking embarrassed. She looked to Chiron.

“I do not know what realm we would even be looking for,” Chiron said. “I fell that we should also be looking into Roman gods.”

“I think so too,” Annabeth said. “I’m gonna do some research.” She got that thoughtful look that normally preceded a long night. “We can reconvene in the morning.” She looked at Grover. “Is there any way to try to convince the empathy link to work?”

“I don’t know?” Grover said. “I’ve never really...tried? Last time I didn’t even attempt, because it felt completely blank on the other side.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot help you either,” Chiron said. “Empathy links are rare and precious. The only guidance I can give you is that you look within yourself and meditate on what you are seeking. If Percy does the same, maybe you will manage to connect again.”

“Thanks,” Grover said, feeling not at all more confident. 

Tyson made that look with his big eye again, the one that he, unfortunately, shared with Percy.

“I know you can do it,” he said. Grover nodded.

“I assume that you will be spending the night in cabin three?” Chiron said, ending the conversation, which Grover was thankful for. “If you are, you will be, unfortunately, sharing the cabin with Hecate kids.

“That’s fine,” Tyson said. “I don’t know why they’re there though?”

“I’ll explain on the way.” Chiron smiled. He then turned to the rest of them. “I think it’s best that we all head to bed now.” 

Grover gulped, moving towards the door. Calling goodnight over his shoulder, he retreated into the darkness. Looking up at the stars, he found himself feeling so very small. The world was so big, and Grover was only one satyr. 

He wondered, for the first time since he remembered Percy, when was the last time they both looked up and saw the stars. 

* * *

Grover was unsure if he was happy or terrified to wake back up in that damned red room. Looking around, he didn’t see any sign of Percy, but the door with no handle was open. 

Gently, he got out of bed, on alert for if Percy materialized or if this was actually a nightmare.

Outside the door, there was a long, empty hallway. At either end were stairs, but the lighting was dark and there were no windows. He followed the path, the hair rising on the back of his neck. 

Eventually, he made it to the stairs, the empty metal staring up at him. The metal was painted, the stairs unworn. Sniffing around, the stairs looked barely traveled. 

Grover hoped that it was because Percy generally used the other stairs.

As he began to climb, he saw a faint, silvery light. When he reached the top, he found that the stairs opened up into a room with one window, and one door opposite. The door had a handle similar to that of a front door, with a deadbolt and a door handle. The keyhole, however, was facing Grover.

Moving forward gingerly, he tried the knob. Finding it unlocked, he tried pushing the door open.

It moved easily.

Trying to convince himself that he wasn’t about to walk into a trap and trying to remember that this was just a dream, he stepped out into the subsequent room.

Directly in front of Grover, there was a wall of windows. The view beyond was that of a sea of trees, mountains rising in the distance. Immediately, Grover recognized the sight as one of those that he had seen yesterday. 

Music and laughter caught his ear, and he turned to his right to see the warm yellow light of a kitchen breaking through the cold grey of the moon. Grover’s ears perked up when he saw a man holding a spoon, a little girl sitting on the counter next to him, laughing.

Still cautious of danger, Grover moved forward until he could see the silhouettes’ faces. Immediately, his heart filled with a joy that took him off guard.

Standing in the kitchen was Percy, his face older and thinner than before, but his eye’s alight with laughter in a way that they hadn’t been the night before. He was talking excitedly, gesturing with the spoon in a way that the contents were at risk of flying off. 

Beside him was a young girl, her cheeks pink with laughter and her face pulled into a smile that was so wide it made  _ Grover’s _ cheeks hurt. She wore a blue apron with a dinosaur of some type on it, the words “Daddy’s Little Brontosaurus” in floral type across the top. Her hair was the same brown as Sally’s, her eyes brown and sparkling like Paul’s.

Both of them were laughing, and dancing, and playing around. They were making something, probably cookies, and Estelle had flour along her cheeks, Percy had some in his hair, nearly obscuring his permanent grey streak. 

As Grover approached, Percy paused, looking up. His face froze, his eyes looking terrified and darting towards the door behind Grover, and then to someplace beyond. Grover turned, but he only saw a second door near the one he had come out of.

“Grover?” came Percy’s whisper. Grover turned, smiling, and ran towards his best friend.

His heart nearly shattered when Percy moved out of the way of the hug.

“Percy?” Estelle said, cocking her head. 

“It’s nothing, Stella, don’t worry about it,” Percy said, picking up the bow of--yep--blue cookie batter and handing the spoon to her. “Why don’t you try stirring it now?” He paused, pulling back and making that teasing face that made Grover’s heart pang in nostalgia. “Or are your arms too weak from  _ all _ those  _ books _ you’ve been carrying?”

Estelle stuck out her tongue, blowing a quick raspberry. “I can stir, Papa,” he said indignantly, taking the spoon from her. “I’m a strong girl!”

Percy’s eyebrows pinched at the name, before he turned towards the other counter, digging through some random papers as he stood next to Grover.

“What the fuck is happening right now?” Percy whispered harshly.

Grover knit his brow. “What do you mean? This is a dream isn’t it?”

Percy looked up to him, an incredulous look on his face. “I’m awake?” he said, like it was a question. He glanced at Estelle. “Definitely awake. I don’t get dreams like this anymore.”

Grover fought back a wince. “Well,  _ I’m _ dreaming. I don’t know what’s going on.” He paused. “Empathy link?”

Percy bit his lip. “Probably,” he said. “I think I’m the only one who can see you but this really isn't the time, bro.”

Grover looked back towards the door. “Is this where you’re being held?” he asked. 

“Yes,” Percy said. He paused. “Do you think you can walk outside?” He shook his head. “No, probably not.”

“I’ll try,” Grover said, taking off towards the door. Behind him, Percy turned to watch him move towards the door.

As Grover approached it, he reached out his hand, hoping that the door would open as easily as the others had. Instead, as soon as his hand touched the handle, a feeling of electricity ran through his body, and he cried out as he fell.

Percy winced, but otherwise made no move. Gingerly, Grover got to his feet, looking around to see what had caused the pain when the door beyond the one Grover came out of swung open.

Out stepped that blonde woman who Grover had seen in one flash. She was older than Grover had realized, though he had no way to guess how old she actually was. She was definitely older than Percy and Annabeth, though. She wore a dark maroon silk robe, her long hair pulled up into an elegant bun.

Her eyes were a stormy blue, her face set in a cautious and threatening position, her eyes scanning the room before zeroing in on Percy and Estelle, both of whom had frozen in the kitchen.

“Uh,” Percy said, a shakiness in his voice that Grover was  _ not _ a fan of. “Is something wrong?”

The woman’s eyes scanned over where Grover was again before shifting into something softer, the dark glint of anger still casting a shadow in her eyes. “I just felt something, is all,” she said, moving into the living room. She eyed Estelle, making a face at the flour. “I can see you’ve been busy.”

“I figured you would want some cookies,” Percy said, moving to the counter the woman was closest to, be maintaining a distance between him and Estelle. Grover knit his brow. “Estelle chose to make them blue.”

“Uh huh,” the woman said, turning to Estelle with a smile plastered on her face. “And just what do you think you’re doing up past bedtime?”

Estelle furrowed her brow. “Momma,” Percy stiffened at the name, “you said that I could make cookies with Papa whenever he wanted to.” The woman’s eyes cut to Percy, and Grover could feel the cold terror rising up within his best friend. 

Estelle’s eyes widened, and she moved forward. “It’s not that late, Momma!” she said, near frantically. She glanced towards a clock before saying, it’s only 11!”

“And school is at 6,” the woman said curtly. She looked down to Estelle, who was making those big puppy dog eyes that Percy had surely taught her, then sighed. 

“Fine,” she said. She looked into the bowl, examining the contents. “How about you two put these into the oven, and then it’s bedtime?” she said, raising an eyebrow at Estelle.

Estelle beamed, and Grover could see Percy sort of shrinking back into himself, shifting into a defensive stance slightly.

“Thank you, Momma!” Estelle cried, jumping off the counter to run and hold the other woman. 

The woman laughed, patting her on the back. “I’m gonna go finish up some work and then I’ll be back, to put you to bed, okay?”

“Okay!” Estelle beamed, running back to jump on the counter.

While her back was turned, the woman looked Percy in the eye, the anger rising back up again and a look of pure hatred burning in her eyes. Percy gulped, turning pale, and then turned to help Estelle back up. 

The woman left, the door shutting behind her with a click of finality. Grover paused for a second before moving over towards Percy, who was still sort of stiff and frozen.

“Percy?” Grover asked. 

Percy nearly jumped through the roof.

“Papa?” Estelle asked, looking over worriedly. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m okay,” Percy said, definitely not sounding okay. 

Estelle looked like she didn’t believe him, but she turned back to the bowl of cookie batter anyways.

“Who was that?” Grover asked, coming closer to Percy. 

Percy stayed still for a second before leaning forward to help Estelle with scooping the cookies onto the pan.

“Percy?” Grover asked.

“Do you think Anika would like some of these?” Percy said, ignoring Grover. Grover frowned.

Estelle turned to Percy, eyes sparkling. “She would love it!” she cried.

Percy smiled, the expression still sort of wobbly and his body still shaking, but clearly trying to move past it. “I’ll ask C--” he bit his lip, glancing at the door. “I’ll ask Cynthia to keep a baggie back,” he whispered. 

Estelle’s eyes widened, and she glanced towards the door as well. “Is someone here, Bubba?” she asked, just as quietly.

Percy put a hand on hers on the spoon, helping her separate a particularly large scoop. “ _ They remember us _ ,” he said in Greek, surprising Grover. “ _ Do you know where we are _ ?” 

Estelle looked down, her eyes still wide. “California _ , _ ” she said. She looked up to Percy, eyes shining. “ _ Are they coming? _ ” 

“You know Mamma will always do what she can to keep you safe,” he said louder, smiling again. “Now, let’s get this into the oven.”

Estelle moved to hug him, her eyes leaving small patches of water in his shirt.

“ _ Please hurry _ ,” she said with a hiccup, and then Grover woke up.

* * *

Grover had only been awake for maybe an hour before it started again.

The terror that had settled into his stomach while he was sleeping rose up, a frantic feeling of helplessness accompanying it. Grover jumped out of bed, his legs shaking as he felt the horrifying feeling of pain across his face.

Maybe it was because Grover had remembered, maybe it was because he had opened himself up so much in an attempt to reach Percy, but the sensation was significantly stronger than it ever had been before. 

He felt slaps and punches and scratches. Grover fell to his knees halfway to the big house as he felt a blow to the head so strongly it made him dizzy. Through the swirling behind his eyes he realized that it wasn’t just a hand that had hit Percy.

Grover froze as he felt the horrifying sensation of a leather strap slipping around first his wrists, and then his ankles. He brought his hands to his face, tears beginning to slip through his lids as he felt Percy’s terror through his veins. He choked back a sob as he felt more blows, and he leaned forward, his large horns touching the dirt. 

There was a pinch, and a few seconds later Grover began to feel more and more disoriented.  _ Drugs? _ he thought.  _ Why would she need to? _

Grover’s eyes widened even as, even as he felt himself scrambled more and more, he felt a new sensation. Realization hit, and he finally let his sobs escape his fingers, filtering out into Artemis’s sky.


	7. Chapter 7

Annabeth woke to the sound of sobbing. 

She jumped out of bed, looking around to see that only a few of her siblings were awake, their faces curious as they all realized the sound was coming from outside. Annabeth pulled on a slightly longer pair of pants before running outside, following the source of the sound.

She felt her heart sink when she spotted Grover’s hunched form near the Big House. She picked up her pace, nearly sliding on her knees as she neared him, gathering him into her arms.

She fought past the lump in her throat, running soothing hands over his back as she tried as hard as possible to keep her heart rate calm. 

“Is…,” she started, swallowing the lump again. “Is he…?”

Grover shook his head violently, twisting in her arms. He pushed close to her before pulling away. Annabeth caught his hand, and he paused, still sobbing.

“What’s going on?” Annabeth asked. His episodes had never been that bad. 

Grover sobbed harder, his hand coming up to grip hers so hard her fingertips started turning purple.

“I...I had a dream,” he managed through his sobs. “I saw him, while he was awake.” He tensed, somehow sobbing harder. “I think I got him in trouble.”

“What?” Annabeth asked, her eyebrows knitting. She heard hooves and looked up to see Chiron galloping towards them full speed. She saw another figure heading from Cabin 1, and she figured it was Jason. 

“I was--” Grover sobbed again, his snot dribbling down his face. “I did something and she noticed and Percy got in trouble and now she’s--” he bit his lip, his face turning ever paler. Just as Chiron reached them, Grover turned his head and puked, clutching his stomach with his other hand.

“Grover!” Chiron cried, kneeling down beside him. “What’s--”

“We need to help him,” Grover said. He was shaking, and pale, and his eyes were wild. “He can’t--please we--Percy!” he cried. 

“Grover,” Chiron said, voice steady and stern. He grabbed Grover’s shoulders pulling him upright. “This pain isn’t yours.”

“ _ I know! _ ” Grover screamed. “But it might as well be!”

“You can’t help him if you are a mess yourself,” Chiron said. “If you keep feeding him your own emotions then you’ll both spiral.” He pulled Grover up slightly, looking him dead in the eye. “You need to calm down so you can help him.”

Grover was near hysterics at this point, his eyes unfocused. “There’s--He’s---drugs,” he managed, his eyes moving as if he was spinning.

“You are fine,” Chiron said. “Breathe with me.”

Annabeth held onto Grover for dear life as Chiron helped him breathe, slowly bringing him down from his hysteria. He was shaking, and tired, and tears still flowed down his face, but slowly and surely he calmed down. 

By the time Jason and Piper got there, Grover was holding onto Annabeth, breathing deeply and shivering.

Jason looked down at Grover, his face darkening and his eyes turning sad. “I assume that means bad news.”

Annabeth bit her lip. 

“We need to get him inside,” Chiron said, standing. 

Annabeth hoisted Grover onto one of her shoulders, Jason taking his other as they followed Chiron into the Big House. Once inside, they gently set him down on the couch. Annabeth hesitated, unsure if she should step back, but Grover’s hand was still vice-tight on her arm, so she adjusted to sit on the couch, putting his head in her lap.

Grover pulled her closer, putting his face in the crook of her neck. “Sorry,” he whispered, his voice shaky. “It’s making him feel better when I hug you.”

Annabeth felt the tears she’d been fighting finally fall down her cheeks, and he hugged Grover back just as hard as he was gripping her. Across the room, Jason set his hand on Piper’s shoulder as the other woman’s eyes shone. 

After a few moments, Grover calmed down even more. He continued sniffing, and Annabeth found herself completely uncaring of the snot that was surely stuck in her clothes. 

Eventually, Grover pulled back, his eyes red and puffy, and his cheeks still soaked.

“Thanks,” he said, his voice hoarse. He wiped his face, shielding his eyes for a few seconds with the movement.

“What happened?” Annabeth asked. “You said you saw him?”

Grover winced before turning those tired red eyes to meet Annabeth’s. “I tried to have a shared dream with him,” he said slowly. “I somehow managed to show up where he was and to him, but he was still awake.” A faint smile crossed his face. “He and Estelle were making blue cookies. They smelled like Sally’s recipe.”

He sobered, looking down. “He didn’t talk all that much, and I went to try the door to see where they were but I must have activated something because I touched it and it hurt, and then the woman came out and--” He stopped, eyes widening.

He turned to Annabeth. “Her name is Cynthia,” he said, his voice serious. “And Estelle said they were in California.” A small smile broke out again. “Percy taught her Ancient Greek, apparently. They were using it.”

Annabeth paused, glancing at Chiron. “Then we were right in assuming that  _ Cynthia _ ,” she spit the name, using it as a curse, “isn’t a greek demigod.”

“If they’re in California I would imagine the likelihood of her being Roman is pretty high,” Jason added. He furrowed his brow, turning to Grover. “And it was like she had some field on the door?”

“Yeah,” Grover said, looking despondent. “I think she could sense that someone tried to cross it and she was mad but she didn’t see anyone--” Grover cut off, his hand flying to his face, his shivering increasing.

“Grover?” Annabeth asked. 

He shook his head. After a few moments, he looked up, his eyes full of tears again. “It’s awful, Annabeth,” he said. “I can--” he bit his lip. “It’s awful,” he said again.

Jason placed a hand on Grover’s shoulder, while Piper turned to Chiron. 

“Are there any things that a demigod could do to have a barrier like that?” she asked.

Chiron shook his head. “No demigod would be able to have such a powerful barrier unless it was a godly gift.” He glanced at Jason. “I suspect that her godly parent has something to do with barriers or thresholds.”

Annabeth nodded. “I looked into Roman gods and I found a few minor ones,” she said. “Terminus, the god of boundaries. Laverna, the goddess of thieves, Suadela, the goddess of persuasion and seduction, and Cardea, the goddess of doors and thresholds.”

Jason paused. “I feel like Terminus and Cardea are most likely to have a power like that,” he said.

“Do you know of anyone in New Rome who is one of their kids?” Piper asked. 

“Jason probably doesn’t know her,” Grover sniffed. He looked to Annabeth. “I don’t know how old she is, but she’s significantly older than both you and Percy.”

Annabeth felt a fresh surge of anger well up inside her, but she fought it back. “Okay,” she said. She turned to Jason. “Are there records or anything?” 

“Yeah,” Jason said. “I can have Nico shadow me to New Rome and Reyna and I can look around.” 

“I think that’s a good starting point,” Annabeth said. “I was planning on going over to Sally’s place again tomorrow anyway, so I can give her the name to give to the police.”

“How are you gonna justify that?” Piper asked. 

“We’ll find a way,” Annabeth replied. 

“Do you want me to come?” Piper asked.

Annabeth felt something give way inside her. “Yes please,” she sighed. “I would appreciate it.”

“I can see if Hazel wants to come, too,” Piper said, giving a small smile. Over the years, Annabeth and Piper had grown closer. She now considered Piper and Hazel her best friends. 

“That would be great,” Annabeth said, sighing.

“Did anything else happen?” Jason asked Grover.

Grover swallowed. “I…” he seemed to work to collect himself, a small wince rattling him. “He just seemed very scared of her.” He froze. “I think…,” he looked to Annabeth, his eyes wide. “I think that she makes Estelle call them Mamma and Papa,” he said in a whisper.

Annabeth grit her teeth, feeling her face heat. Jason’s grip on Grover’s shoulder tightened.

Chiron sighed, his face suddenly betraying just how old he was. “It’s still late,” he said. “I believe you should all return to bed.” He turned to Annabeth and Grover. “You both can sleep in the spare room, if you wish.”

Annabeth nodded, feeling Grover nod against her.

Jason and Piper helped them both upstairs, before heading out. Piper squeezed her hand before heading out after Jason.

Annabeth held Grover in the dark room, fighting back the urge to ask. She felt him wince, and jump, and sob slightly, and she knew that whatever was happening to Percy was still happening.

Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Grover,” she asked, “what’s happening to him?”

“What?” Grover asked, his voice thick.

“You said you can feel everything,” she whispered. “Tell me. Please.”

Grover hesitated. “He’s...he’s drugged,” he said slowly.

“I know,” Annabeth said. “Please tell me everything else.”

“I--” he bit his lip. “Let me ask him.”

There was a pause, and Annabeth held her breath.

It had been four years since she had held Percy. Four years since she had kissed him, or seen him, or told him she loved him. Four years where she has been living without her other half.

She was so happy that the curse had broken. Even if it meant that she knew what was happening to Percy, and how awful he was being treated, the constant feeling of worry and stress and anger was worth it. 

For four years she had lived with a huge hole in her chest that she had simply never been able to fix. She’s tried studying, and working, but she still found it so hard to lay alone at night, the memories of Tartarus filling her nightmares and this feeling of missing someone she couldn’t remember tearing her apart.

She would never tell Percy, but his second disappearance had hurt more than his first, even though she didn’t know about it. She had fallen into a depression, her life feeling meaningless, not because she was alone, but because she felt a connection with someone she couldn’t reach.

Maybe she and Percy had something like an empathy link, too.

“Okay,” Grover said finally, his voice hoarse. He swallowed hard, fighting back tears. “He said it was okay.”

Annabeth felt both relief and dread.

And then Grover began to tell her.

It was so much worse than she had expected.


	8. Chapter 8

Grover had passed out around dawn, words pouring out of his mouth like tears. Percy had passed out long before him, unconsciousness leaving Grover with a feeling of lonely, aching terror. Annabeth held him, her arms shaking and her tears matching Grover’s. When he took a chance to glance at her face, he found a quiet fury in her eyes, one that warmed him and that he passed along to Percy. It seemed to help slightly, though Grover was unsure of how cognizant of goings on he was over time.

When Grover next awoke, it was to gentle hands shaking him awake. He opened his eyes, the sticky feeling of his face make him want a shower.

“Grover,” came Annabeth’s soft voice. “I’m going to Sally’s. Do you wanna come with me?” 

Grover at up, blinking the blurriness from his eyes. He looked at her red eyes, and felt a quiet sort of shame.

“I…” He bit his lip. “I don’t think I can face her.”

She paused, before nodding slowly. “I know how you feel,” she said. “I don’t plan on telling her yet. If ever.”

Grover felt a cold feeling of relief. He hoped he never had to tell Sally.

“Chiron said you can stay here as long as you need to,” Annabeth said. She looked him up and down. “You might want to, uh, process things from last night.”

Grover frowned. “And you don’t?”

“I already said I would go,” she replied. “If I don’t, they’ll think Percy’s suffering horribly.”

“As if he isn’t,” Grover said under his breath. 

Annabeth frowned. “I don’t want to tell anyone unless we have to, or unless Percy says it's okay.”

Grover shrugged.

Annabeth sighed. “I’ll be back later. Message me if you need to.”

Grover nodded, and she gave him one last look before gently shutting the door.

Sitting alone, Grover found himself finally able to think.

Feeling for Percy, he found only a soft unconsciousness. Prying just a little deeper, he found some of the places Percy had started to crack at the edges. He gathered himself, thinking of all his memories of his best friend. Of capture the flag, and sparing, and Percy introducing him to new friends and ocean creatures. He remembered [things that happened in the books I’m sorry I’m tired]. He let the feeling rise up, settling it in his chest and adding the feelings he had gotten from camp over the last few days. Of Annabeth, and Jason, and Piper, and Leo, and Hazel, and Frank, and Tyson. He moved back towards Percy, using the feelings like a balm, filling Percy’s cracks.

He had never attempted something like this before. He wasn’t even sure if it was a thing that empathy links could  _ do _ . But something inside him told him that he should try.

After a few moments, he felt Percy softening. The wounds became less angry, and the general hard ball of tension he had contorted himself into unwound.

It was strange how their link had changed. Four years ago, their empathy link had only been able to convey emotions. The longer they stayed apart, the less specific the feelings they would get from each other. When Percy was in Europe with the rest of the Seven, he only had a vague understanding of Percy being stressed or in a battle. During Tartarus, he had felt fear and terror, but it had been muted, as if the fact that he was in another dimension affected their bond, which was probably true. 

During the years that Grover had forgotten, the bond had shifted. Over and over, Grover would have dreams where he felt just a sense of terror and dread, and he would maybe hear words in Percy’s voice, but his voice had never really meant much to Grover at the time. Overtime, the voice had started to disappear, probably due to Grover’s continual rejection. Eventually, it just became a feeling of someone reaching out for comfort, like the hand of a child reaching for help. Grover had always attempted to send positive things, and to help even though he didn’t know who it was, but it never seemed to help much, and the hand would eventually let go and Grover would be left with a horrible empty feeling. 

Now, their bond felt more physical than before. Instead of Grover getting a general understanding of Percy’s environment, he seemed to only get a grasp of him when he was being hurt and cornered. 

Grover had the suspicion that Percy had started suppressing his emotions from the bond, and he had the even more horrifying suspicion that what he  _ did _ get were the emotions he simply couldn’t control. 

He sat like that, the sun filtering in through the curtains in the window to warm his chest, sending every positive feeling he could to Percy.

Once upon a time, he could have had very basic telepathy with his best friend. Now? He could only tell that Percy was awake.

Grover knit his brows, then decided to try something.

Mirroring the feeling that he had had from Percy years ago, he gently reached out a mental hand. Percy’s form had relaxed, his emotions less suppressed. Grover gently approached, wrapping around Percy.

_ It’s okay, _ he tried to send.  _ We’re working to find you. I won’t leave you. _ He paused.  _ You don’t have to hide from me anymore. _

There was a long pause, with Grover simply doing his best to send positivity to his friend, before Percy relaxed even more. The mental representation of his best friend essentially collapsed into a pile of goo, Grover doing his best to catch all of it. 

The feeling of relief slammed into Grover so hard that his body stopped breathing for a moment. Grover sent affirmation, trying to help as much as possible. The feeling was more than just relief, though. There was a feeling of hope, and sadness, and longing. 

For a moment, Grover wondered why he only felt the feeling now, days after he had first made contact. Percy, amazingly, answered.

_ I couldn’t let myself believe you, _ he said.  _ I didn’t want to hope. _

Grover’s breath caught in his throat. Tears began streaming down his face. 

_ I’m sorry, _ he said, realizing he hadn’t said it yet.  _ I’m so sorry I forgot.  _

_ It’s okay, _ Percy replied.  _ It wasn’t your fault _ .  _ Just knowing that you remember and I’m not alone means maybe I can handle it better. _

Grover blinked.  _ Percy, we’re coming to help you, _ he said with as much conviction as he could possibly manage. When Percy hesitated, a feeling of uncertainty drifting through their bond, Grover doubled down.

_ We are coming to get you and Estelle, Percy _ . Grover sat up, his face set.  _ Everyone is working right now to help you. We’re coming to find you. _

_ I believe you _ , Percy replied, hesitant.  _ But I don’t know how successful you’ll be. _

Grover frowned. He reached out again, feeling the broken shape of his friend.

_ I’m so sorry you have been treated like you have been, _ he said, a lump forming in his throat.  _ But I want you to know that we  _ will _ find you. She’s not as powerful as she makes herself seem. You aren’t alone anymore. You couldn’t get out because it was just you versus her. But now? It’s her versus Camp Halfblood, most of Camp Jupiter, and probably every living entity tied to the oceans. She won’t win. _

Percy stayed still for a while, just basking in Grover for a minute.

_ I’m just nervous that you won’t make it in time, _ he said. 

Grover sent the impression of a question. 

_ She had another miscarriage _ . Grover felt his heart drop at Percy’s blankness.  _ I’m afraid she’s going to be even more unhinged than before.  _ There was a feeling of shame.  _ She normally doesn’t attack me two nights in a row. _

_ Wait, _ Grover felt sick,  _ she’s trying to get  _ pregnant _? _

Percy just stayed quiet. 

Quiet horror started to rise up Grover’s spine. He was starting to wonder if he would be stuck feeling that emotion at this rate.

_ Oh, Percy. Is that why…? _

Percy stiffened. Grover backed off, just focusing on those happy thoughts again, trying to get him to relax again.

_ She’s going out to a party tonight, _ Percy said.  _ So tonight should be okay. _

_ Can you give us any more information to help find you? A last name? A town? _

_ No.  _ Percy sent the feeling of apology.  _ She didn’t...There was never a time I was with her consensually. _

Grover, hesitated.  _ Your mom said that you stayed with her for a year before you disappeared. What happened? _

Percy heaved a sigh. His form unfurled a little, and Grover, after a moment, moved into the space. And, once again, he was surprised at the intensity of their bond, as Percy shared a memory.

* * *

_ He was covered in blood, panting as he stood in the dark alleyway. A pile of gold dust was in the process of floating away in the gentle breeze. He capped Riptide, moving out of the alley and towards a local bar. He waved at the bouncer, who had learned long ago not to question exactly why he was so filthy all the time.  _

_ He moved towards the bathroom, sticking to the shadows as he had learned to do. The bar was pretty empty, as it was most Monday nights, but he was careful anyways. He made it into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He turned on the sink, calling on the water to clean him. _

_ The water lifted from the sink, even as he cupped it in his hands, splashing over him. He was so tired after the stress of everything that the energy he gained from the water and the healing of his wounds still wasn’t enough to make him feel energized per say, but he at least felt less dead on his feet. He’d also noticed that since everyone had forgotten about him and Estelle that the water wasn’t as energizing as before, probably because it didn’t recognize him anymore, either. _

_ The thought made him sad, and he felt another pang in his chest at the thought that he could possibly never see Annabeth or Grover or Tyson or Blackjack or anyone else. He shook his head, focusing on cleaning himself up. He didn’t want to scare his mom or Paul. _

_ The water lifted the blood from his clothes, and he moved it back into the sink, letting the pink wash away.  _

_ He shook himself slightly, feeling a bit like a dog, and he moved back into the bar. He slid onto a stool at the bar, letting his forehead rest on the cool, polished wood. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. It was late enough that this was one of the only places that was still serving food in this part of town. The bartender, who was used to him showing up, set a glass down beside him _

_ He looked up, a grateful smile on his face. “Thanks man,” he said, picking up the glass and chugging the water. He sat for a second, feeling the water heal his some internal bleeding he hadn’t noticed before.  _

_ “You want the same thing as always?” the bartender asked.  _

_ “That would be great,” he smiled. The bartender nodded, his eyes full of worry, and stepped towards the kitchen.  _

_ He put his head back down on the counter, closing his eyes for a moment, and fiddled with Riptide in his pocket. After a few moments, there was a squeak from the stool next to him. He looked up, spotting a woman in her early 30s, with long blonde hair tied up in a braid, and sparkling blue eyes. She wore a black dress that left very little to the imagination, with silver embroidery along the sheer sleeves.  _

_ She looked him up and down for a second, giving him that  _ look _ that he hated, before turning to the bartender, who was bringing his food--a simple grilled cheese with tomato, saying “I’ll take care of that.” _

_ Percy frowned. “I have it, really.” _

_ She looked at him again, her face flat. “You don’t owe me anything. You just look like you’re having a rough night. I figured I could help.” _

_ Percy fought back a grimace. “I would actually really prefer being left alone right now.” _

_ The bartender looked between them, his face concerned. “I’ll give you time to decide,” he finally said.  _

_ The woman huffed, watched the bartender walk away. “I figured fighting monsters was exhausting enough to make you tired, but I didn’t know it was enough to make people  _ rude _.” _

_ Percy stiffened and narrowed his eyes.  _

_ She caught his expression and let out a laugh. “Come on, you can’t be  _ that _ surprised to see another demigod.” _

_ “I just haven’t met you before,” Percy said, taking a small sip from the new water the bartender had brought him.  _

_ “And you know all of us?” she asked.  _

_ “I know most,” he replied. “And I feel like I would have seen someone as old as you around somewhere.” _

_ Her eyes softened. “I haven’t been around for a while,” she said. She looked at him. “If you know so many people, why don’t I know about you?” _

_ Percy didn’t want to tell her anything, honestly. He didn’t know her, and he’d learned long ago not to trust super easily. _

_ But the other part of him was lonely. And tired. He wanted to talk to someone who knew what he was going through.  _

_ And, maybe, she could help him.  _

_ “I don’t know,” he said. “Everyone seems to have forgotten me.” He took another drink, looking away. “Even my own mother.” _

_ The woman’s eyes widened. “Everyone? Does your godly parent not remember, either?” _

_ Percy shrugged. “I dunno. I can’t get to camp, and I can’t get Iris messages to work.” _

_ The woman nodded. “Ah,” she said. “I figured you were greek. What with being in New York and all.” _

_ Percy frowned. “You’re Roman?” _

_ “Yep,” she said, taking a sip of her own miscellaneous martini. “So you don’t know if the gods forgot because you can’t talk to them.” She took another sip. “I think the fact that they aren’t answering is proof enough that they probably forgot about you too.” _

_ Percy huffed, finishing his drink in one go. “I was hoping that you wouldn’t say it and I could keep hoping.” _

_ She laughed. “Sorry,” she said, taking another sip. “I could potentially help you,” she said after a moment. “I can talk to people back in New Rome, if you want to come with me.” _

_ Percy frowned, something in him pinging danger. “No,” he said. “Sorry, I want to stay here. Even though my mom forgot me, she’s still letting me and my sister stay with her.” _

_ “Sister?” the woman asked.  _

_ Percy cringed. He hadn’t meant to mention her. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “She’s fully mortal, but for some reason everyone forgot about her two.” _

_ “So a half-sister,” she said, drinking again. Percy thought he caught a smile, but he couldn’t tell. “Interesting.” She paused, thumping her forehead with the palm of her hand. “I’m sorry, it seems we’ve gotten a bit ahead of ourselves.” She held her hand out to Percy. “My name’s Cynthia, daughter of Cardea.” _

_ Percy shook her hand, feeling awkward. “Percy,” he said slowly, unsure. “Son of, uh, Poseidon.” _

_ Cynthia’s eyes widened. “Well now,” she said. “I can’t say I was expecting that.” She laughed again. “You’re probably pretty strong, huh? That explains how you’re still alive with no help.”  _

_ Percy frowned. “Monsters haven't really been attacking me,” he said.  _

_ She raised an eyebrow. “Then why were you covered in blood and monster guts?” _

_ Percy felt his face heat up, and he hid it with another drink. “I interrogate them to see if they know anything.” He put his glass down, sighing and putting his head in his hands. “They don’t remember me either. At this point, I think even if someone  _ was _ responsible, they forgot they did it.” _

_ Cynthia sucked air through her teeth. “That’s rough.” He heard her shift, and when he opened his eyes, she had moved more to face him. Her eyes were full of sympathy. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me to Camp Jupiter? We could get into contact with someone who could fix this.”  _

_ Alarm bells were ringing even louder in his ears. He ate the last bite of his sandwich, and he pushed the plate away. The bartender spotted him, and Percy nodded. The bartender smiled. Turning to the computer to add the meal to Percy’s tab. _

_ “I think I’d rather stay here,” he said, turning back to Cynthia. “My family is here, even if everyone’s forgotten about me. I would rather stay here.” _

_ Cynthia frowned, but nodded. “I understand,” she said. “Family is very important.” Her eyes studied him again, but this time it felt like she was examining his very soul. Her blue eyes darkened, and Percy suddenly knew that he had to get out of there. _

_ “Speaking of,” he said, getting up, “I need to get heading home.” _

_ She nodded, coming to stand. “It was nice meeting you,” she said, sticking her hand out again.  _

_ This time, he didn’t shake it, keeping his hands firmly in his pockets. “Same,” he said, watching her face darken.  _

_ “I was going to offer you a ride,” she said slowly, watching him, “but I appear to have unsettled you somehow. I hope you get home safe, and that everyone remembers you.” She took a step back, moving towards the restroom. “I hope you get home safely,” she called over her shoulder.  _

_ “Thanks,” Percy said quietly, waiting for her to enter the restroom before turning back to the bartender.  _

_ “You good?” he asked.  _

_ Percy nodded. “I should be fine. Just let me pay another time?” _

_ “Of course,” the bartender smiled. “See you tomorrow, Percy.” _

_ Percy smiled, giving a short wave. “See you tomorrow, Joel.” _

_ He turned, walking quickly out of the bar. Once on the street, he nodded to the bouncer before heading towards the bus stop. It was a pretty long walk, about 15 blocks, but it wasn’t that cold. As he moved along, he watched his surroundings, not seeing or sensing anyone following him. There were only a few cars, but all of them sped past him.  _

_ He was starting to feel like he could let his guard down, when he started to feel dizzy.  _

_ He slowed, blinking hard to try to clear his vision, but it didn’t get any better. He slowed down, feeling his thoughts start to scramble. He screwed up his eyes, placing his hand on his head, trying to figure out what was wrong.  _

_ Then he heard a car come to a slow crawl behind him. He turned, spotting a dark car with black tinted windows parked just behind him. He felt his head begin to swirl even more, and he looked around. He didn’t see anyone, but he was over halfway to the bus stop. The bus drivers knew him, and getting on a bus would be safer right now.  _

_ He turned, trying to keep his vision straight, and took off, running as fast as he could. He turned the corner, feet slapping the concrete, when he heard the roar of the engine following him. He glanced back and saw the same car, and ducked into an alleyway. He was pretty familiar with all the alleyways here. This one would loop around the building, and he would cross at the different street, and then there would be another alleyway that would take him back where he needed to be.  _

_ He ran as fast as he could, huffing and puffing. His head was spinning worse and worse now, and each footstep left like a nail slamming into his brain. He exited the alleyway, darting across the street and into the next one. He continued running, but around a corner, he tripped on some garbage. He grabbed the wall, managing not to fall down, but he took a moment to catch his breath.  _

_ He looked around. He was only a few blocks away now. He panted, and started moving again, pushing his tired and aching body as fast as it could. His legs were slowly turning into led, and his eyes were starting to threaten to close if he didn’t pay attention.  _

_ Somewhere in the back of his head he knew that Cynthia had somehow drugged him. He wasn’t sure when, or with what, but he knew exactly who was coming after him.  _

_ He started looking around for any person he could find, but the streets and alleys were completely empty. He pushed himself, drawing on the adrenaline to keep him going as he entered the last alleyway. Just a few turns, and he would be at the bus stop.  _

_ He picked up the speed, his vision nearly completely blurry. He rounded a corner, but he couldn’t see the pipes that stuck out from the bottom of the building. His foot caught, and he cried out in surprise as he slammed hard into the concrete.  _

_ He wheezed, trying to get his breath back and get back up, but it was then that his body chose to betray him.  _

_ He couldn’t feel his feet, and his arms shook where he tried to push up off the concrete. He got up onto his elbows, pulling his legs forward as he looked up towards the end of the alley. He could see the lights from the buildings shinning on the bench. He blinked, and the bus loading two passengers came into view for just second before his vision swam again. He pushed, trying to stand, when his arms and legs gave out.  _

_ He panted, trying to claw himself forward, but his arms refused to move. The panic in his brain was muted by the complete  _ exhaustion _ that was slowly taking over him. Percy kept trying, pushing with everything he could, but his body refused to move.  _

_ Tears started to fall down his face as he tried futilely to get up. He was screaming at himself, but his body came to be less and less under his control.  _

_ Horror filled him as he heard the click of heels coming down the alleyway. He renewed his efforts, but nothing would move at all now. The footsteps stopped at his back, and he heard the shifting of fabric. Long fingers grabbed his shoulder, rolling him over. Long fingernails dug into his cheeks as Cynthia turned his head to look at her crouched over him. _

_ “Quite a catch indeed,” she said, smiling in the dark alley.  _

_ Percy tried to glare at her, but he couldn't control his face anymore. _

_ The last thing he heard was the sound of the bus driving away. _

_ \------------------------------------------------- _

_ When Percy woke up, he was faced with a white ceiling. He groaned, a horrible headache pounding behind his eyes. He could feel pain in his ankle and his shoulder. He tried to sit up, but his arms refused to move. He furrowed his brow, turning his head to see his arm stretched out on the bed, bright red rope tightly tied around his wrist and attached someplace under the bed. _

_ Suddenly awake, Percy tried pulling on it again, but his arm barely moved. He looked to the other side, seeing his other arm contained the same way. He pulled on his legs, feeling the rope twinge one of his ankles, but both were tied as well. He looked around, taking in the end tables and the brown wallpaper and the ornate light fixture.  _

A hotel?

_ “Oh,” a voice came from beyond the bed, “you’re awake.” Percy lifted his head to see Cynthia sitting in an armchair, a book in hand. She set it down, frowning at him.  _

_ “That looks uncomfortable,” she said. “Let’s get you a pillow.” She waved towards the hallway Percy couldn’t see, and a man dressed in a black suit stepped into the room.  _

_ He picked up a pillow from another chair. He stepped closer, and Percy tried to tell him to leave him alone, but found his voice unable to work. Instead, he bared his teeth. The man grabbed his hair, yanking his head up and stuffing the pillow behind it so that Percy couldn’t help but look at Cynthia across the room. His neck twinged, and he tried to push against the pillow to adjust it as Cynthia smiled and the man left the room. _

_ “There we go,” she said in a sweet voice. “That’s better, isn’t it?” _

_ Percy glared at her.  _

_ Cynthia’s eye widened in a mockery of surprise, and she lifted one of her hands to cover her mouth, as if she was some proper lady from the 1900s. “Oh, I forgot. You probably can’t speak yet, huh?” She shook her head. “I’m just so forgetful.” _

_ She looked back at him, her eyes taking on the glint of a hunter. “I knew you had to have been a pretty powerful demigod to have done so much damage to the monsters here, but I wouldn’t have expected a son of  _ Poseidon _. I didn’t think he had any kids.” She smiled cruelly. “Or, I suppose, if everyone’s forgotten you that that makes sense.” She picked up her tea, swirling the spoon as she spoke nonchalantly. “I guess you  _ have _ been forgotten by your daddy.” _

_ Percy grit his teeth, clenching his fists and pulling at the bonds again. Cynthia laughed.  _

_ “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, setting the cup down. “Did I hurt your feelings?” She stood, moving over towards the bed. “Sorry, sugar, but I would have been nicer if you came willingly.” She looked down at his ankle. “There really was no reason for you to dislocate your ankle.” _

_ She looked back up at him, her eyes alight with glee. “I will say, though, that you really  _ are _ the perfect target.” She moved even closer, resting her hand on his cheek. He tried to turn his head to bite her, but she brought up her other hand and gripped his hair, pulling hard to expose his neck. He moved her hand to his neck, pressing lightly on the sides of his neck.  _

_ Almost immediately, he started feeling lightheaded.  _

_ “Careful,” she said. “I don’t want to have to hurt you yet.” Percy grit his teeth, and relaxed. She paused before letting go, running her hand through his hair.  _

_ “As I was saying,” she continued, playing with his hair. “You’re  _ very _ convenient. You don’t have papers, or any proof of your existence. No one remembers you.  _ And _ , to top it all off, you have a defenseless little sister who  _ also _ doesn’t exist!” _

_ Percy stiffened, his eyes going wide. Dread filled his entire body. _

_ Cynthia smirked, just as a knock came on a door farther down. _

_ “Oh,” she said, her eyes glinting with a cruel light, “that must be her now.” _

_ She moved over towards the hallway just as the man in black walked back into the room, Estelle’s small form held in his arms. _

_ Percy stiffened as Cynthia took Estelle’s prone body from the man, who stepped slightly back. She moved closer to the bed again, showing his sister to him. _

_ “Now,” she said, sitting down on the bed. “Right now, she’s knocked right out.” She gently poked Estelle’s cheeks. The little girl didn’t even stir. “It’s not the same stuff we gave you, mind. I don’t want an innocent little child to feel as absolutely  _ awful _ as the meds I gave you leave people feeling. I had to knock her out, however, because she’s about to go through the same procedure as you!”  _

_ Cynthia turned to Percy, beaming and pointing at a place on Estelle’s inner thigh. “Right now, you already have a tracker in you, a top-of-the-line one that I can track even on the bottom of the ocean and in the middle of a desert. Right here,” she tapped Estelle’s leg again, “Estelle’s going to get a matching one. Now,” she lifted a finger, like a twisted teacher, “you may be wondering: Why is she telling me where it is? I can cut it out? And that, my dear, is exactly why I’m telling you. Do you know what else is right here?” _

_ Percy felt all the blood drain from his face. _

_ Cynthia smiled cruelly. “Correct! A major artery!” She laughed, adjusting her grip on Estelle. “Better not go digging on your own, right? Wouldn’t want to accidentally nick that little old thing.”  _

_ Percy narrowed his eyes, baring his teeth again.  _

_ “I--” he managed, his throat feeling like he swallowed lava. “I’ll...Stop…” _

_ “Oh, I’m sure you’ll try,” Cynthia said, leaning forward. “You’re a child of the Big Three! I’m sure you’re used to being strong enough to get out of tons of tricky places, but you won’t be able to get away from me.” Her eyes glinted. “After all, you wouldn’t want your sister to get hurt, would you?” _

_ Percy narrowed his eyes, letting out a small growl. Cynthia just laughed again. _

_ “I don’t think you believe me just how little power you have now,” she said. She moved back towards the man, giving Percy’s little sister to him to be taken away. The man left, and Cynthia climbed onto the bed, straddling Percy’s body and sitting on his legs. _

_ “Let me show you,” she said, and she reached down to Percy’s jeans, and began to unbutton them. _


	9. Chapter 9

Annabeth was at Sally’s, sitting with Hazel, Piper, and Sally while Paul was at work. They sat around the kitchen table, talking about the media campaign they were about to launch.

“I still don’t know how we’re going to spin it,” Sally said. “We reported it once 4 years ago, and then we let it drop until just two weeks ago. If we’re making a plea to the public, how are we supposed to explain that?”

“Maybe you say that it was due to recent developments?” Hazel tried.

“What do you mean?” Annabeth asked. 

“I mean, we all remembered, right? What could we say we got that we could somehow explain why you pushed for it, and weren’t working for it the whole time.” Hazel looked around. “I mean, people are gonna wonder why you weren’t worried and running for help until now.” 

“That’s true,” Piper said. “No one was looking for them then everyone was.” She twisted her lips, thinking. “Could it be a phone call? Or a letter from him?”

“That’s evidence that we would have had to have given the police,” Sally said. “I don’t want to lie and have people find out, because then the emphasis of the search will be on whether we killed him and are covering it up rather than on finding him.”

“We could always just say something close to the truth,” Annabeth suggested. “We could say that he came to you in a dream and that’s what pushed you to start looking again.”

“You think that’ll work?” Hazel asked. 

“I mean,” Annabeth said, “it could be that you gave up and thought he was dead, but then he came to you in a vision and said to keep looking for him in California. It’s not a lie.”

“...I guess,” Piper said slowly. The thought for a second and then nodded. “People tend to get pretty sucked into the emotional side of things. Some people won’t believe you, but it’s something the ‘emotionally distraught mother’ would do.”

“I  _ am _ an emotionally distraught mother,” Sally deadpanned. 

“Exactly,” Piper said. “So we can build it up a little bit.”

Sally sighed, leaning back in her chair. “I hate how similar this is,” she said slowly. 

“What do you mean?” Hazel asked.

“Well,” Sally said, looking down. “Back when Percy was 12, there was a man hunt for him because I went missing and he ‘got kidnapped.’” She frowned, leaning on her elbows. “It’s something that shadowed Percy for a while. I can’t imagine that this wouldn’t affect things.”

Annabeth reached for her cup, using her spoon to stir her tea. “It just occurred to me that he didn’t have a chance to finish high school,” she said slowly. She bit her lip. “What is even going to happen when he gets back?”

Sally put her hand on Annabeth’s, a sad smile on her face. “We’ll figure it out,” she said. “When we have them back we’ll all be fine.”

Annabeth gripped her back, sighing. “Yeah,” she said, smiling back. She looked back at the other two. 

“So doesn’t the dream plan sound good?” Piper asked.

Sally sighed again, taking a long drink from her cup. “I think it’s the best we can do.”

“When is the press conference?” Hazel asked.

“Tomorrow morning.” Sally closed her eyes. 

Annabeth nodded. “I can try to be there, but I don’t think that being the girlfriend is gonna be a good look.”

“Maybe,” Piper said. “Or you could have been convinced, too, and then maybe you had your own dream, or you believe Sally’s dream was real.” She took a drink, too. “I think that it would speak to his character or something.”

“Maybe…” Annabeth glanced at Sally. “What do you think?”

“I think that would be okay,” she said slowly. “But really am unsure about all of this. I’m worried about backlash from Cynthia.”

Annabeth took another sip, thinking.

It’d been two weeks since everyone remembered. The first few days had been harsh, what with Grover constantly feeling horrible things through their empathy link. They had both still neglected to tell anyone what they had learned about exactly  _ what _ Cynthia was doing and hoping for from Percy, but it apparently hadn’t happened since the third day.

The police had started acting, doing their research. They had raised an issue with the fact that they waited so long, but when Paul had pointed out that the police had been the ones who refused to look into it four years ago they had caved. 

Jason and Frank had gone to New Rome. They searched the records and found no information on any daughter of Cardea within the decade. Poseidon had apparently asked, and she stated that she didn’t keep enough track of who her children were, which was incredibly disappointing but not something that Annabeth was unused to. 

She had done some research into Cardea herself, though. Apparently, she was the Roman goddess of thresholds and doorways. She had an emphasis on family, which was odd considering how forgetful she was. Annabeth had a hunch that Cynthia’s godly gifts had something to do with controlling barriers, explaining both why Grover’s ghost-thing touching the door had sparked something, and why Percy had been unable to escape. 

It probably also had something to do with that door Grover kept mentioning. The one with no handle. 

“It’s possible,” she said slowly. “I’m just not sure we have much other choice.” She turned to Sally. “We’ve run out of leads. No one can find him, and the police think that this can make her feel cornered.”

Sally sighed. “I guess I’ll take your word for it, even if I don’t like it.” She leaned back, looked up towards the ceiling. “I just want my kids back. As soon as possible.”

* * *

Taking Piper’s suggestion, Annabeth had dressed up and attended the press conference. She wore the same dress she wore when she graduated from Harvard, wearing a subtle necklace with the emblem so people would take her seriously. 

The police had warned them all that it didn’t look good. An eighteen year old disappearing along with his two year old sister was suspicious in its own right, much less an eighteen year old with Percy’s past of dropouts and “bad behavior.” They still refused to take that measure off the table, even when Annabeth knew that the fact that he hadn’t left with Estelle proved that there was someone else involved. She figured that if this “dropout with bad behavior” had dated someone like her, who had graduated harvard, then maybe people would take this whole thing more seriously, and not accuse him.

Apparently, she was too hopeful.

At the conference, all of the reporters had brought up Percy’s records. They kept asking what reasons Percy would have to take his sister. They were ruthless, and made it clear who they thought was at fault.

Sally had taken it like a champ, but the police chief had refused to deny the rumors. Annabeth had made her own comments, and so did Paul, but the reporters didn’t seem swayed. 

It had been two hours since then, and Annabeth, Grover, Sally, and Paul were hanging out back at the Jackson’s apartment. They were mostly just sitting in the living room, blankly drinking tea and hanging out. The TV was on, turned to a random news channel, but they weren’t really expecting anything out of it. There weren’t any reruns, and the news had only brought it up once.

“How long did they say it could take?” Grover asked again. 

“They didn’t say,” Sally said. 

Paul sighed, resting his head on the back of the couch. “I guess we have it lucky, in a way,” he said slowly. “At least we know for sure that they’re alive. Lots of families who have to make press conferences don’t know if their kids are alive or not.”

Annabeth took a big swig out of her tea, finishing the whole cup. She stood, heading into the kitchen. “I’m making more,” she said, waving her hand behind her. 

“I’ll take some,” Sally said, staring blankly at the TV. There was some story about a dog that’d been rescued from a sewer playing.

Annabeth nodded, walking into the kitchen. 

They sat in silence for so long, Grover watched the sun slowly set. Night set in, casting the room in shadow. Annabeth made tea a bunch more times, and Grover at one point turned the lights on. The TV had changed from the news to some random TV show, and now it was a talk show. There was a guy saying something about pomegranates, but no one was paying attention.

Eventually the clock struck 8 p.m. Sally sighed, standing up for the first time since they had returned to the apartment. 

“We have two spare bedrooms,” Sally said, her voice sad. “I assumed you both would be staying the night.” She gentured down the hallway. “I’m going to bed. Please, make yourself at home.”

Annabeth and Grover nodded. Paul stayed a few minutes more before heading to bed as well, with a gentle good night. Grover and Annabeth waited even later, siping tea and watching the adult cartoons that had come on that this point. 

Around 11, Annabeth finally caved.

“Let's go to bed,” she sighed, standing up. Grover followed. 

At the end of the hall, they faced the two rooms. Annabeth opened the room on the right, which they both knew was Percy’s. They both froze. 

The bedspread was the same that Percy had had, but it was made, something Percy rarely remembered to do. Thinking about it, there was no reason that they would have changed it. The posters on the walls had been left up, but the room was completely unmessy. 

It hurt to see a space that was still so heavily built for Percy to have nearly no trace of anyone living there.

Grover opened the other room, where Estelle’s nursery had been. The crib had been replaced with a queen, and all of the decorations had been changed. There were some framed child’s drawings, many of them featuring heavy use of blue and yellow, and a few stuffed animals, but otherwise the room barely even carried a hint of a child having lived there. 

“I think I’m going to sleep in Estelle’s room,” Grover said, looking between the doorways. Percy’s room was too similar, too like it had been before. Estelle’s was something new.

Annabeth looked at Percy’s old room, her face unreadable in the dark light.

“Do you mind if I join you?” she asked after a moment. Grover took her hand, leading both of them into the yellow room. They moved into the bed, getting settled. The pillows were fluffy, and they smelled of the Jackson’s. There was something achingly familiar, yet so different. 

Grover closed his eyes. He hadn’t seen or been able to talk to Percy for a while, but he knew that he was doing okay. He was still...well, he was still experiencing what he’d been experiencing for three years, but he was still vaguely able to live his “normal” life. He’d explained that Grover had simply caught them at a bad time. He’d also said that since Cynthia didn’t know about him at all before the curse, then she wouldn’t have known that they had remembered.

Grover slowly fell asleep, trying to reach for Percy and talk to him. 

He missed his best friend.

* * *

Hypnos must have answered Grover’s prayers, because Grover opened his eyes to find himself back in that red room. He sat up quickly, turning to see that the door with no handle was closed. He looked around, finally spotting Percy sitting on the floor across from the bed.

Grover jumped out of bed, nearly tackling Percy.

“Percy,” he cried, the warm feeling of his arms wrapping around Percy a comfort after such a strange time. 

Percy laughed softly, hugging Grover back. 

“What’s going on?” Grover asked. “Any updates?”

Percy’s eyes were dark in the low light, and the shadows on his face made his expression hard to read. Grover was able to feel a strange mix of sadness and joy.

“Well,” he started slowly, “she saw your press conference.”

Grover stiffened. “So she knows?”

“Yep.” Percy popped his P, leaning his head back against the wall. “So guess who isn’t allowed to go to school anymore?”

Grover’s eyes widened. “She was going to school?”

Percy looked back down, a weird look on his face. “Didn’t I tell you that?”

“No?” Grover frowned. “So, wait. She was going to school, and now that they announced that you and Estelle were missing she pulled her out of school?”

“Yep,” Percy said again. 

“That seems risky,” Grover said. “Estelle Blofis isn’t exactly a common name.”

Percy screwed up his face. “She was registered under the name ‘Estelle Martin.’”

Grover sat up, his eyes wide. “Wait, you know Cynthia’s last name?”

“I don’t know if it’s  _ her _ last name,” Percy said slowly, “but it’s  _ a _ last name.”

“Okay,” Grover said, thinking. “But this is still a huge lead!” A smile broke out over his face. “Looking for an Estelle Martin who lives in California, age six, who was recently pulled out of school is a lot of details. It’s way more than just ‘a kid named Estelle in California who’s six and maybe no one has seen.”

“I guess,” Percy said. He leaned his head back again, looking away. “I just feel like it’s not as easy as you’re thinking it’ll be.”

“But before she could keep you both because neither of you had papers or any family or friends.” Percy winced, but Grover pressed on. “Now you have all of that.”

“But now we’re both even more on lockdown than we were before,” Percy said, his voice exhausted. “And we’re moving.”

Grover froze. “Moving?”

Percy let out a puff of air. “Yeah.” His eyes darkened, his gaze leaving the room. “We’ve done it a few times now. I have no frame of reference to know how far we move.”

“We could probably still trace it, though,” Grover said, slowly. “If we can find where she was, we can track where she is now.”

“She’s probably doing it more because she doesn’t want Jason remembering the layout of the house.” Percy’s eyes slid closed. 

“Wait,” Grover said, his fur raising. “Jason?”

Percy didn’t answer. Slowly, the room became more and more hazy. 

“Percy!” Grover tried to grab his arm, but he turned to mist, and then he woke up.


	10. Chapter 10

It had been morning when he woke up. He woke Annabeth, telling her what he had learned. She had nodded, a strange light in her eyes, and then said she would go tell Sally while Grover called Jason.

Grover headed to the bathroom, turning on the shower at the lowest setting and popping in a few drachmas. 

When Jason answered, his eyes were red and his hair was a mess. Grover could see his bed in New Rome behind him. 

“Grover?” Jason yawned. “It’s--” he looked over to towards the wall, groaning “--6am. What’s going on?”

“Sorry,” Grover said first. “I still forget about the time changes.”

“It’s okay,” Jason said, yawning again. He wiped the tears from his eyes. “What’s up?”

“I had a dream about Percy last night,” Grover said. Jason immediately looked more alert and awake. “He said that they were moving.”

Jason knit his brow. “That’ll make things difficult, but we should still be able to track them if we can find where they were,” he said. Ha paused, studying Grover’s face. His own fell. “There’s more, isn’t there.”

Grover swallowed slightly. “He said something really cryptic and then the dream ended,” he said, letting his irritation rise up. “He told us Estelle’s name, which is nice, and he mentioned that they probably weren’t moving to avoid getting detected,” he watched Jason carefully, “he said it was ‘probably so Jason wouldn’t remember the layout.’”

Jason’s eyes widened. If he wasn’t awake before, he sure was now. “Huh?” he said intelligently.

“I don’t know,” Grover said. “He never got the chance to explain.” He studied Jason’s face for a second. “Is there any reason why he would say that?”

Jason sat back, rubbing his neck. “I would imagine it had to have happened when Piper and I broke up,” he said slowly. “I was, uh,” his cheeks heated, “pretty reckless. I partied a lot. I--” His eyes widened.

“I went home with girls from parties,” he said, slowly. 

Grover bit his lip. “What kind of parties?”

Jason looked away, shrugging. “Parties for the rich and famous in California,” he replied. “I was...uh…” He trailed off, his eyes unfocusing. Grover gave him a moment, letting him come back to himself in his own time.

“It was rough,” Jason finally settled on. “I kind of, well,” he brought his hand up to rub at the back of his neck, “distraught.”

“So parties for the rich and famous in Cali,” Grover said. “And if you went home with women, its possible that you, uh…” It was Grover’s turn to trail off. Jason’s eyes widened.

“I never had sex with them!” he said hurriedly. He bit his lip. “Okay, just a few of them. But there were tons it could have been.”

“Well,” Grover said, shaking his head, “ignoring what a whore you just outed yourself to be,” Jason frowned so Grover emphasized his smile to keep the demigod’s hackles down, “I think it means that you might have run into her at some point.”

Jason frowned. He looked down. “I would assume so,” he said slowly. “I’m not sure how Percy or anyone would have known if I didn’t--”

He cut himself off again, his eyes widening. 

“Wait,” he said, leaning forward, “she’s blonde, right? Hair very similar to Annabeth’s, with blue eyes?” Grover winced at the comparison, but nodded.

“It’s Cynthia Grey Martin,” Jason said in a huff. 

Grover felt like the breath had been knocked out of him.

“What?”

“Cynthia Grey Martin,” Jason repeated. “She’s the daughter of Christopher Grey Martin. He’s a famous actor who worked with Piper’s dad years ago.” He hunched up, drawing his knees to his chin and wrapping his arms around his legs. “When Piper and I were together I ran into her for a few moments at a time once or twice. After we broke up, she offered me a ride. I was vaguely familiar with her, so I took the offer.”

His arms tightened, his knuckles turning white. “I spent the night on her couch. I remember at some point being woken up to someone shaking my shoulder…” He paused, his voice growing thicker with each word. “It was...it was Percy. But I didn’t know him.”

Jason blinked quickly, unfurling slightly to rub at his eyes. “He tried to tell me I knew him but I brushed him off.” Jason paused, heaving a sigh and scrubbing at his eyes harder. 

“ _ Gods _ , Grover,” he said, voice thick, “he looked  _ awful _ .”

Grover swallowed. He knew the feeling. He glanced over his shoulder, his concern about what finding Percy like that would do to Annabeth. Her sanity was thin as it was. 

Jason took a steadying breath, before continuing. “I was pretty drunk, so I think Cynthia thought I forgot. Percy mentioned something about cameras.” He rubbed his eyes again, getting himself under control.

“Do you have a way to contact her?” Grover asked when Jason looked up.

“No,” he said, looking almost embarrassed. “I think she was nervous that if I saw her again that it would bring up questions. I saw across the room at a party or two, but she avoided me.” Jason rubbed his head, his eyes tired. “I can’t believe I didn’t ask any questions,” he said softly. “I just...even if I forgot, I should have wondered why a starving dude was in her house claiming to know me.” 

“It’s okay, Jason,” Grover said. He thought back to how he acted about the empathy link these past four years. “We all ignored things because we didn’t remember.”

Jason shot him a grateful look, smiling slightly. “Thanks,” he said softly. He glanced behind the image, then looked back to Grover. “I think everyone here is starting to wake up. What’s the game plan?”

Grover smiled, glad that Jason’s mood seemed to have lifted. “Annabeth is telling Paul and Sally about my dream right now. I’m gonna go tell them what you said. We’ll head back to camp and let everyone know.” He paused. “I assume you’ll be doing the same in New Rome?”

Jason nodded. “I’m sure Reyna is already up,” he said, a small smirk on his face. “She’s always been an early riser.”

Grover nodded. “We’ll message later with a more concrete plan when we have it,” Grover said.”

“Sounds good,” Jason said, a smile breaking across his face. “Best of luck.”

“You too,” Grover said. He swiped the air, disrupting the image. He turned, opening the door to see Annabeth halfway down the hall, relief on her face when she saw him come out.

“I was worried that you had fallen in,” she said. She straightened. “What’d he say?”

Grover felt his grin widen, exposing his teeth.

“We know who she is,” he said.

It was strange, really, how much joy he got from seeing the look of murderous glee on Annabeth’s face.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is all I have for now. I hope you enjoyed what I have so far!
> 
> See you later!


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